My Story to Tell
by Pscyh-0-4-Jaggie
Summary: Gabriella lost her whole family to a "accident", because she's in witness protection she is sent to live with her grandpa where she meets a blue eyed boy Troy. He tries to figure out what really happened to her family. Will he put her life in danger?
1. Chapter 1

Trailer:

Everything was going great for the Montez family until the "accident" leaving Gabriella without her mother, father and six siblings. She was then sent to live with her late father's father who she hadn't seen since she was eight, who lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. While mourning the loss of her family she caught the eye of a certain blue eyed neighbor. Troy sets out to figure out what happened to Gabriella's family. What happens when Troy begins to stick his nose where it doesn't belong. Will he fins something that will compromise their friendship, what will happen when he put Gabriella's life in danger.


	2. Unexpected Visitor

The worst part was now she was all alone. Never before was she ever alone, and it seemed like this is how it's going to be for the rest of her life. Ever since the "accident" she wouldn't eat, sleep or even move, by the end of the first three weeks she had finished counting the holes in the ceiling. The words heartbroken couldn't even describe the way she was feeling as she laid on the uncomfortable mattress that resided in her grandfather's library.

"Gabriella," she heard from the doorway, she knew that it was her grandfather but she didn't want to look him in the eye, "Gabriella, sweetheart please you need to get up. Please get up, go take a walk or at least go down the hall and go take a shower."

She heard what he said but she really didn't care, she wanted to say in that spot for eternity. She turned over so her back was facing him, she couldn't bear to look at him, she felt as though she had betrayed him in someway. Grandpa Montez took this as a sign so he put down the chocolate chip cookies and warm milk on the desk a few feet away from his distraught granddaughter, then exited the room quietly closing the door. Gabriella could smell the chocolate from her current position, id it was anything other than those amazing cookies she would have stayed sulking but these were her grandfathers special cookies, these amazing treats have magical qualities and she was in dire need of some magic. This was the first time in weeks that she had finally gotten out of bed so when she first stood her legs hurt but that didn't faze her, she was already numb all over, she reached the cookies and her heart soared. In her eyes these cookies were going to heel her, they were going to make her feel normal and most of all make her happy beyond belief.

Gabriella made a plopping noise as she landed her butt into her grandfathers desk chair, she scooted her body closer to the desk and picked up a warm cookie, it began to melt in her hand just like she remembered. Once she took a bite she realized that she was starving, so she gobbled up that plate of cookies in no time. She couldn't help by smile when she noticed the plate that was once holding delicious creations was the plate she made for her grandfather, the last time she saw him; almost nine years ago. She was happy to see that he still had it, it meant a lot to her.

When she finished the last of her milk she heard a pounding sound coming from outside the window. Like the sound of a ball hitting the pavement. Her curious side came out as she stood up and walked toward the large bay window. This particular task was getting Gabriella to get her mind off the hard time in her life. Her eyes went wide when she saw a shirtless hunk playing basketball by himself in the neighbor's back yard. There was something about him that she recognized but she couldn't put her finger on it. She looked over to the desk on the wall noticing that it was two in the morning, and wondered if this mystery man couldn't sleep as well. She just stood there watching him running up and down his backyard, she felt a little stalker-ish just standing there staring at him.

All of a sudden she felt brave. She wrapped her blanket around her shoulders, walked to the balcony doors and walked out into the cool night air. She could see him much more clearly now, wow was he beautiful or what. She felt as surge of confidence jolt through her veins, "You know that, that banging could annoy the heck out of people who are sleeping," she teased. She watched as he jumped, from the sound of her voice, and spin around to see the dark haired beauty leaning against the railing of the balcony.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry, I'll stop. I didn't mean to wake you up," his husky deep voice apologized.

"Oh don't apologize, I was already away, couldn't sleep," she said pushing a strand of her hair behind her ear. She tried not to blush when she reached for her shirt, stretching his nice back muscles, that was on the ground next to him, "Yeah me either."

Silence fell upon the two teenagers, and all you could hear was the frogs ribbeting in the distance. Gabriella was seriously starting to regret even coming out there in the first place; her confidence was staring to deteriorate. She was about to turn around and walk back into the house however she heard him begin to speak, "So are you Mr. Montez's granddaughter?"

She shyly nodded her head, "Yeah, my name is Gabriella."

When he smiled she felt her hear skip a few beats, "it's nice to meet you Gabriella, I'm Troy; your grandpa told me to watch out for you while you're here."

Gabriella smirked with curiousness, "is that a good thing?"

Troy shrugged his shoulders, "I hope it is. Are you hard to handle," he teased. Gabriella couldn't help but smile, she only met this guy a few minutes ago and he was making her heart flutter; she began to feel guilty that she was smiling instead of crying about her family, "I guess so. If my grandpa says so then I must be," she answered.

Instead of waiting for him to say anything she turned around and walked back in the house, leaving him looking confused Gabriella plopped down on the bed with a loud groan, she felt stupid for letting herself flirt with a stranger when three weeks ago she lost the rest of her family. She turned to look at the door but she saw someone standing there, she rubbed her eyes trying to make sure she wasn't losing her mind; she saw someone who defiantly not supposed to be there, her brother Rick was standing there but the thing is, is that he died nine years ago. Gabriella seriously thought she was going crazy when she saw him walk towards her and kneel next to the bed. She felt him reach up and wipe away her tears, "its okay Gabriella you deserve to enjoy life. Don't worry about what we think. This morning we all voted and everyone agrees that you should be happy and love life and even get to know that really nice guy you like, I think he said him name is Troy," Gabriella just laid there staring at him in amazement, she knew that it had to be a dream or something but she was so happy to see his face again; he was her favorite brother, "So please Gab don't feel guilty to smile or even have fun. We all love you very much and we would be miserable if our baby sister was living the life she has down here just laying here on the bed staring up at the ceiling; wasting your life away."  
"I promise," she whispered.

Rick smiled adoringly, "I love you Gab, we all do," he reached into his pocket and pulled out eleven envelopes and put them on the desk, "Read them in the morning. You need to get some sleep and Gabriella in the morning I want you to get up take a shower and go down stairs and keep grandpa company."

Gabriella nodded her head and promised that from now on that she was going to enjoy life; she gave him a hug and watched him disappear in the dark. Not a few minutes later she felt her eyes begin to grow heavy and everything went even darker.

SO WHAT DID YOU THINK?

HANNAH


	3. July morning

It felt as thought the night flew by. Gabriella woke up around ten that morning and for the first time in a while she felt fully awake and content. Once her eyes where fully open she looked over to the desk, hoping that the letters were still there. She smiled widely when she saw them in the exact same place as it was the night before. You would have thought that it was Christmas morning by the look that was plastered on her face as she grabbed the large stack.

She opened the first letter and immediately recognized it as her father's writing and couldn't help but let a tear slip from her eye.

Dear my princess,

I'm not really sure what to say, you and your mother were always the ones who always knew what to say. I guess I will start up by saying that I miss you dearly and I wish that I was there with you, and I wish that what has happened didn't happen.

If you were worrying about us don't because we are fine, we actually get upset because you are sulking. I understand that you are mourning but please be happy, or at least get up and make sure grandpa is okay, go outside and draw like you like. Believe me it will make you feel better. It would break my heart if I didn't have a daughter who is making the best out of the hard life she's been given. I want to be able to look down on you and see you smile, especially if you are with someone you love.

Remember when we used to go get ice cream on Fridays before school, me you and Rachel; and we would sit in that same booth every time. Remember it had all the Disney princesses on it and one say you looked at me and said, "Daddy prince charming will find me one day," yeah I still remember that from that long ago. It stuck because one it was so cute but also because this is one of the things that we really agreed on, we both want you to find your prince charming. I know that you are only seventeen but finding someone who loves you is the best thing you will ever have. Now I know that what I'm saying is crazy especially since you are still young and aren't even thinking about boys like that, Right? There is a real reason why I bring this up and I'm sorry that I can't explain it to you just please promise me that you wont be alone, that you'll let people in.

Please remember daddy loves you and I wish that I was still with you. I will definitely be writing you again to make sure you are happy. And remember that I will be looking in on you so don't do anything I wouldn't approve of.

Love,

Daddy

Gabriella couldn't help but smile at his last line; he was always trying to say something funny in an awkward situation. He was right, she thought he was crazy when he brought up the subject of marriage; she never thought that a father would want his seventeen year old daughter to really start thinking about getting married.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knocking on the door. Her head shot up as her grandfather walked into the room. He smiled when he saw her awake and sitting up.

"Did you get letters too," he asked when he saw the piece of paper in her hand.

"Would you think I'm crazy if I said yes?"

Grandpa Montez walked over to Gabriella and sat next to her on the bed, "Not at all, but other people may," he teased, "There are many things that can't be explained in this world by you just have to go with it. What you experienced is heartbreaking but these letters are helping you be happy again. Your family up in heaven realizes this and wants to help you as much as they can. So don't question your sanity just go with the flow, maybe you should even write back."

Gabriella smiled, this made her feel better, "Thanks papa I appreciate it."

He reached for a big hug before saying, "Why don't we get up and go out for breakfast. You can bring these with," he said pointing to the stack of letters. She nodded her head, "Sounds great."

He left her to get ready. She put her father's letter back into its envelope then got up, grabbed a towel and walked to the bathroom to take a scolding hot shower, which was really needed.

After getting out of the shower fully refreshed she got dressed, grabbed the stack of letters then descended down the stairs. It was exciting almost like a baby walking for the first time. She walked right past her grandfather to get through the front door. It was a bright sunny, warm, July day and Gabriella ran outside and skipped through her grandfather's front yard. Many people that were walking by glanced at the young girl with a questioningly look on their faces; they thought she was on something.

"You seem very happy this morning," she head the familiar voice say that didn't belong to her grandfather. She turned around, ceasing her tribal dance, and saw that the words came from the blue eyes hunky neighbor, "I just really love sunny days," she blushed.

"Ah Troy, how are you son? Training going good," Mr. Montez said walking up to him giving him a manly handshake. Troy flipped his hair out of his eyes gracefully before answering, "It's going good sir, dad's got practices scheduled all the time."

"When does the season officially start?"

Gabriella just stood there staring at her grandfather and the hot neighbor, as they continued their talk on sports. She really didn't care what they were saying but the look on her face said something else.

"Not until after winter break, but he wants us to be super ready for the scouts. He's hoping that I'll get a full scholarship to UCLA so that I can play for the Lakers. I don't know how I'm going to tell him that I want to go to Berkley and especially that I don't want to play pro," he answered.

"Aw I'm sorry, we are about to go to get some breakfast would you like to come with?"

Gabriella felt her pulse speed up when she heard her grandfather speak those words, but yet her heart was soaring with happiness.

"That would be awesome, can Kaylee come too? My parents went on a trip for their anniversary and I'm in charge of her," he explained.

Mr. Montez agrees. Gabriella got even more and more nervous as Troy walked into his house and walked back, holding the hand of a little girl with blue eyes and sandy brown hair, just like Troy.

"Gabriella this is Kaylee my little sister," Troy said when he reached them, who were standing in front of Grandpa Montez's car.

"HI!" Kaylee cheered. Gabriella smiled; both Kaylee and Troy have the same smile and personality.

They piled into the car, the Bolton's in the back and the Montez's in the front. Gabriella tried to ignore the eyes staring a while in the back of her head. Troy and Gabriella's eyes connected in the rear view mirror. Gabriella's face flushed red before she looked away. This feeling was new to her; she never really felt like that towards about a guy before; no one ever made her blush. Gabriella was too busy trying to avoid Troy's gaze that she didn't realize that they had arrived at the Denny's.

They all got out and then Mr. Montez said something that made Gabriella start to panic, "Sorry guys I just realized that I promised my friend that I would pick him up and drive him to work. So you guys can eat without me; just call me when you guys are finished and I will come pick you up."

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

HANNAH


	4. Cemetery Stories

It was like it was a really bad dream. She was sitting across the table from a guy she doesn't really know in a room full of a bunch of other people she doesn't know. She knew that this guy was nice and she really wanted to get to know him more but she really would have rather liked it if she was sitting there with her grandfather talking about how they were going to move on, how they were going to begin their new life; with just the two of them left.

She was somewhat polite as she sat there slowly nibbling at eggs, if Troy or Kaylee were to ask a question or begin to tell a story she would listen intently even though she really just wanted to leave. Troy could see that, he could see the pain that was still present in her eyes.

He didn't know everything that happened but he knew that she lost her parents and he couldn't imagine how she was feeling and he began to feel guilty that he was keeping her from going home and taking the time she needs to be by herself. But there was this something about her that intrigued him, she just seemed so different then the other girls he knew. He wanted to know more about her; he wanted to know why he couldn't keep her eyes off her, why he wanted to be with her all the time.

They seemed to finish their breakfast rather fast and in an instant, it seemed, Gabriella was sitting in front of her sister's headstone reading the letter that her sister wrote. She had already written her father back a letter and rested it up against his head stone.

**Gabby, **

**I hope that you are finally going on with your life. Remember that I will always love you and I will be looking down on your for the rest of your life. Over the past few weeks me and mom have been telling everyone how great you are; how much you care about everyone and everything. **

** I miss you and I love you with all of my heart, and in a few years when you will understand more you will get why all of this happened. I would love to tell you but then I would be making your life more complicated, and I just want you to live a normal life. I want you to graduate from high school, go to Stanford like you've always wanted and become the best lawyer out there; I want you to find someone who loves and cares for you no matter what happens and I want to see you with mini Gabriella's telling them about all of us and how we all will be watching out for them. I don't want you to forget me or everyone else but I want you to take what you have gone through and keep moving forward. **

** Now as your big sister I order you to get off your but and go back to school. Without you who is supposed to give the teachers a run for their money. Now I suspect that you are in Albuquerque with grandpa so you will be the new kid, but don't let anyone treat you bad. Gabriella you are a big girl now and you've seem me stand up for you many times but now it's your turn. Just remember no running away, and so signs of fear. **

**Guarde el moverse adelante y recuerde que te quiero con todo mi corazón y mí nunca sea demasiado lejano!**

**Love, **

**Ray-Ray**

Gabriella began to panic, she totally forgot about going back to school. She didn't know what she was going to do; Rachel was always there to fight off the kids who picked on her and now that she is gone Gabriella doesn't know what to do.

"I didn't know any better I would think that I was stalking you," Gabriella, heard all of a sudden from behind her. Her heart jumped out of her chest before she turned around to see Troy standing behind her.

"Oh my God you scared the crap out of me; I thought some ax murder was going to kill me," she said trying to regulate her breathing.

"Sorry I didn't mean to," he heart-fully apologized.

He walked over to her and sat down next to her.

"So what are you doing here," she asked after a few moments of quiet.

"I came to visit my parents. They are a down there," he answered pointing to his right.

Gabriella was confused, she thought that Troy had parents; he in fact told her Grandfather that they were on a trip for their anniversary. Troy picked up on her confused face, "You're confused huh. Well my parents died in car crash when I was two months old, they went out for a date night and on their way home a drunk driver hit them head on. So I went to live with my God parents and they are the only mom and dad I really know; and I love Kaylee as my sister which really she is."

Gabriella didn't know what to say, she lost her family too but she didn't know what to say to relate to him except, "Oh I'm sorry. My dad and my brothers died in car crash too."

Troy just smiled and nodded his head, he turned towards the head stone they were sitting in front of, "So is this who you are visiting," he asked pointing to Rachel.

Gabriella quietly nodded, "Yeah, but she's not the only one," she stood up and walked to her father's stone eight down from Rachel's. Troy sadly hung his head, he thought she was walking away from him but then his head shot up when she said, "This is my dad and my mom," Troy smiled and stood up and walked over to her.

"They would be forty nine," she shifted over one to her right, "This is my brother Gavin, he would be thirty two," she shifted again, "This is my other brother Ricky and his wife Alison and they would be thirty," shifted again, "This is Ricky and Ally's daughter Ellison, she would be ten," shifted again, "this is my brother Greg and he would be twenty six," shifted again, "This is Robert or Robby and he would be twenty one," shifted again, "And this is Gabe, Robert's twin," shifted again, "And this is my sister Rachel and today is her eighteenth birthday."

Troy fell silent, he was speechless; he lost his parents but that was nothing like Gabriella, she lost her whole family. Now he knew why she was so distant and quiet, now he felt bad for making her sit there at breakfast. Tears began to stream out of eyes but they weren't coming out of Gabriella's chocolate brown eyes.

Gabriella looked over at him and her heart began to ache when she saw Troy's eyes letting water stream out. She pulled out a tissue that was in her pocket and gave Troy a small smile as she handed it over to him," Please don't cry."

He quietly apologized as he grabbed the tissue, "I don't know what to say."

Gabriella nodded, "its okay, I would rather you say nothing at all then try to be my psychiatrist."

"Yeah I get what you mean."  
They stood there for a few quiet moments before Troy leaned in and pulled Gabriella in for a hug as he said, "Thank you for showing me your family."

Her heart sped up at his touch, "No problem."

SO WHAT DID YOU THINK?

HANNAH


	5. Grassy Love

They were seated criss cross on Gabriella's front lawn just talking and sharing funny stories. It was nice that Gabriella had someone to talk to; someone who wanted to talk to her like a normal human being, someone who wasn't afraid to talk to her or get close to her. Troy was different, and Gabriella could tell that. There is just a different attitude he has towards her then what she thought his kind would. It's like he has a true heart and actually cares about someone other then himself.

"So what do you want to do, if not play pro," Gabriella asked idly playing with the blades of grass tickling her ankle.

"Well I really want to write and become this great best selling author but I know that my dad would hate the idea. He wants me to play basketball. Now don't get me wrong I love to play basketball, it's really fun but I don't want to work so hard and frantic just so a scout can come look at me and not even be guaranteed a pro job. Whereas if I was to get my masters in English then I could be an English teacher while I'm writing my novels," he answered, "I guess I'm more of a practical then him, I want to know that I will not loose."

"It's okay to dream you know," she said looking straight into his bright blue eyes.

He shrugged his shoulders, "I guess but I just don't want to be at home on my ass for the next sixty years because I didn't make it pro."

"You should tell him that. Just say that you would like basketball to stay something you enjoy and that you want to write. He'll understand, he loves you; they just want to see you succeed," Gabriella said.

"Well what do you want to be," he asked not wanting to talk about it anymore.

Gabriella shrugged; she never really thought about it, "I don't know. I'm just hoping that the world just slows down to a complete stop and we stay the same age; I know it's a little juvenile but I don't want to grow up," she answered looking down at her fingers still playing with the grass which she now realized was starting to get itchy.

"I like that idea. We go all our life wanted it to speed up but once we get there we want to go back or just make it stop. Wow we are indecisive," he joked.

She looked up and smiled; she playfully slapped his arm, "no I'm serious. I really don't want to grow up. I have to admit that I'm afraid of being out there by myself. Me and my sister made this plan when we were little when the boys told us that we couldn't live with them when we grew up, they were planning to have all the boys move in together but because we were girls we couldn't, so me and Rachel made a plan that we were going to stay together forever. We were going to find this place near the beach and we were going to get married to guys that were brothers and we were going to stay home and raise our twins together and never work a day in our life," she said still with a smile on her face. Troy didn't know what he was supposed to say when she started to talk about her sister but when he saw that she had a smile on her face and she was upset about the mention of her sister, "Typical girls," he teased.

"Oh shut up, you know that you and your friends planned that out once."

Silence fell upon them for a moment before Gabriella spoke up, "I don't know I wish that I could just run away from it all and I could make it all stop. Cause senior year is going to start and then college applications are due in a little while and I haven't even started looking around here and I don't know what I'm going to do with money," Troy could tell that she was starting to panic, "My grandpa only gets money from social security and what my parents left me, that's not a lot. But I really don't know how to take care of myself, I've always had someone there with me to tell me what do and how I'm supposed to do it. I don't know what to do," she startled to hyperventilate and tears started to slowly stream out of her eyes.

Troy didn't know what to do but he knew that his heart was breaking because she was upset and that she was really freaking out. He immediately pulled her in for a hug and let her head tuck into the crook of his neck and told her that everything is going to be okay. Gabriella loved that someone was just holding her and tell her that she can do it, that it's all going to be alright, that the world isn't ending. It just felt right in his arms, there was something perfect about his embrace and very protective; she wanted to stay there forever. She was slowly starting to calm down and settle more into his arms when they heard the loud clearing of someone's throat. Gabriella and Troy pulled apart and saw a middle age man and woman standing on the sidewalk with luggage sitting upright next to them.

"Mom Dad," Gabriella heard Troy say as she wiped the stray tears out of her eyes.

"Where's Kaylee," his mother asked.

"She's inside with Mr. Montez, she convinced him to teach her how to make his world famous brownies. You can get a long way with a cute face and her famous puppy dog look," He answered.

"Who's this," his father asked noticing the two teens were still somewhat tangled together. They realized this and they swiftly stood up, "This is Gabriella, Mr. Montez's granddaughter. She just moved in with her grandfather."

Mr. and Mrs. Bolton smiled and greeted the young beautiful girl before turning back to their son and giving him that look that told him to say goodbye and come in the house.

"Um well I think I'm going to go inside and finish up my letters. Would you like me to send Kaylee home when they are done," Gabriella said first.

"Yes that would be nice," Mrs. Bolton said.

And just like that Gabriella walked back into her new home.

SO WHAT DID YOU THINK? TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT TO HAPPEN.

HANNAH


	6. Balcony Jealousy

The darkness fell onto Gabriella's street and the rest of the Albuquerque that night. It was about one in the morning and Gabriella had said goodnight to her Grandfather a few hours before and was now sitting out on her balcony with her laptop resting on her lap as her fingers typed away on the keyboard. Her eyes were glued to the bright screen that showed her the answers to her query. Her heart jumped from her chest when she heard the door to her room open, she looked over at the person and saw Rick walk out to her.

"I love that you come and see me but could you I don't know knock or something. I really don't like my heart jumping out of my chest," she said as her brother sat on the chair opposite of her.

"Sorry," he apologized, "So what are you up to at one in the morning?"  
"Just looking up schools and stuff," she answered.

Once she looked back up at him after she answered him it finally dawned on her that she was having a conversation with her dead brother like he was really there, "You know people are going to think I'm crazy for talking to you."

"Yeah well people can believe what they want to believe," Rick responded.

She was even starting to think that she was going crazy and that she really needed to go see a doctor or something. However she would have rather people consider her crazy and be with someone she loves then be sane and alone. Just talking to him wouldn't hurt anything right?

"How do you like Albuquerque," he asked.

She glanced over to Troy's house before she answered, "It's nice. I haven't really seen much of it but it seems like a great town."

Rick smiled as he noticed his little sister quick glance to the cute neighbor boy's house, "Yeah and it doesn't hurt that grandpa lives right next door to the Bolton's."

Gabriella's face turned beat red as her glance went to her fingers that were fiddling in her lap.

"You know Troy's dad, his real dad and our dad were best friends," Rick said.

Once Gabriella heard what he said her head shot up, "Really, I don't ever remember him talk about him."

Rick shrugged his shoulders, "Yeah well once him and his wife died Dad didn't want to really talk about him but you met them once, granted you were only a few days old and you wouldn't remember but you still met them none the less. They were even all of our God parents."

Gabriella was taken back by what her brother said; she thought it was a little ironic that her family was really close to the guy she wouldn't mind spending the rest of her life with.

Rick noticed the day dream look on his little sister's face after he told her about their family's connection to the Bolton's; he couldn't help but smile at his sister's happiness, "I guess everything happens for a reason," he said interrupting Gabriella's Day Dream about Troy.

Gabriella nodded her head, "Yeah," she said mixed in with a yawn.

"Oh you're tired; I shouldn't have kept you talking for this long," Rick said standing up, "You go to bed. That's an order from your big brother."

She smiled and stood up to give her favorite brother a hug and he gave her a kiss on the cheek before they both disappeared back into the house.

The sun came out a few hours later but Gabriella didn't wake up until ten, which she never did before. She got dressed and walked out onto her balcony hoping that Troy was outside as well. She looked over into his backyard and sure enough he was there running up and down their small basketball court playing one on one with himself.

"Hey Nickolas Sparks you having fun," she yelled leaning over the railing to see him closer. A confused look grew on his face as he looked around trying to find where the voice had come from, once he saw Gabriella standing on her balcony his face went from confused to a little angry, "Hi," was all he said.

"Are you okay," she asked concerned.

He turned back to playing his game as he answered, "I'm fine."

But Gabriella knew that their was something wrong; she tried to figure out what she had done but she couldn't think of anything. She looked over at him again before she walked back into her room and walked down stairs.

Gabriella saw her grandfather in his favorite spot, in the kitchen at the table with newspaper in hand. She walked over to him gave him a kiss on the cheek before she said, "Hey I was thinking about going over to Troy's is that okay?"

Mr. Montez smiled, "Yeah of course. Go have fun."  
Gabriella smiled and gave her grandfather another kiss on his cheek and a hug before she grabbed her phone and walked out the door. She was on a mission to find out what's wrong with Troy, she hasn't known him for that long but she knew that if he was acting like this then something is really wrong.

She knocked on Troy's front door and was greeted by his mom, "Oh hi Gabriella, How are you?"

"I'm good, I was wondering if I could talk to Troy for a second."

She gave the young girl a smile before she said, "Yeah no problem, he's out back. Go right ahead."

Gabriella thanked her and then walked to the Bolton's backyard which seemed much larger then she thought. She looked over the Basketball court and saw Troy shooting baskets; his back facing the young girl.

"So are you going to tell me what I did to make you mad or do I have to guess," she said and watched Troy turn to look at her with wide eyes.

"I…I….I'm not mad at you," he stuttered.

"Don't try to lie I can tell that you're mad," she said walking closer to him, "Please just tell me what I did."

"It's just stupid; I know I shouldn't be mad. I guess I'm just a little jealous," he admitted.

Gabriella's face turned confused, "Jealous of what?"

"I…..Uh….Uh….saw you earlier, when you were on your balcony with you computer and I saw you talking to that guy and you guys seemed to be having a lot of fun and then he kissed you and you guys walked into your room," he answered with a blush.

Gabriella looked at him in awe.

SO WHAT DID YOU THIINK? DID TROY REALLY SEE GABRIELLA'S DEAD BROTHER?

HANNAH


	7. Unexpected Neighbor

"Wait what did you say," Gabriella said with her eyes wide.

He looked down at his feet and said, "That I was jealous."

Gabriella shook her head, "No after that. You say me talking to someone."

Troy looked up with a confused look on his face, "Yeah, you guys were talking. I could swear that I have seen him before somewhere, I just can't think of where."

Gabriella didn't know what to feel, it was like she was feeling a mass sensation of confusion, anger, happiness and pain. It was the weirdest feeling ever and it was actually kind of scary; she was starting to panic.

Troy noticed the confused and panicking look on Gabriella and asked, "What's wrong?"  
Gabriella looked up at him as she began to feel nauseous, "That guy that you saw is my brother."

Now it was Troy's turn to have a confused look on his face, he knew that Gabriella had said that all her brothers and her sister and even her parents were dead; he was now thinking that maybe their was another brother that she had forgot to tell him about, a brother who was very much alive, "I thought you said your whole family is dead."

"They are," she answered rubbing her temple trying to think of what her next move should be, "I'm sorry I have to go," she said then ran out of the Bolton's back yard back to her house. Troy was about to run after her but he knew that she was going to be really confused and all she wanted to do was to be by her self to think about what to do or what to think.

He just stood there with his basketball still grasped in his hands trying to concentrate on where he had seen him before. As he stood there and contemplated he heard the opening and the slamming of doors over at Gabriella's house. In that moment Troy had it in his mind that he was going to figure out what was going on, and figure out why he saw Gabriella's brother talking to her on her balcony at two in the morning when he's supposed to be six feet under. He had this overwhelming urge to protect Gabriella and help her find the answer to her confusion. He just really didn't want to see her in pain like her grandfather had described to them a few weeks earlier; it was like it was his job to make sure that she was never going to be hurt like that ever again.

He dropped his basketball and ran into the house looking for his mom to help him jog his memory.

**WITH GABRIELLA**

She slammed her bedroom door unintentionally but she really didn't care if her grandfather heard; she actually kind of wanted him to hear and race up the stairs to answer all of Gabriella's questions. She grabbed her purse that was sitting on the desk and franticly flipped through her possessions until she reached her stack of letters from her family, she found Rick's letter and opened it.

Care Bear-

Hey little sister. I'm guessing by now that you are reading my letter last and if this isn't the last then there must be a big reason why you skipped them all to get to mine. I miss you so much and I love you with all of my heart and I am hoping that you are still the same little sister that I remember. By now I have come down and visited you and given you these letters and I have talked to you for a little bit but I know that you still hate all of us for leaving you all by yourself. You have to know that things happen for a reason and for a reason God has given you the best life ever even though you don't realize it right now. We all just want you to move on, not necessarily forget us but to go on with your life; finish your senior year and graduate, go to the college you've always wanted and backpack through Europe like you always told me you wanted to do and especially find someone who is willing to help you through it all, someone who is willing to help you succeed in anything you set your mind to, someone who is willing to stand your craziness for the rest of their life. I know that you will have a great life and enjoy it but before you can you have to let go, you have to step out into the world and live like you haven't been through all that you have. I want you to pretend, for just one day, that you are just a regular kid and this is your last summer before graduating and you are going to spend the summer having fun, getting a tan, going to the parties and drink even though I told you not to and stay out until four in the morning staring up at the stars with someone special. Please just do that for me.

I'm still going to come visit you but after awhile I will say goodbye one last time and leave you to moving on. So I will see you later. And don't forget my Care Bear that I love you with all of my heart and we all will be looking down on you always.

Rick

As Gabriella was reading along she couldn't help but feel that her big brother was leaving important details out. She really didn't want to believe that there was something fishy going on or that the rest of her family are in on it. She just wanted to ignore what Troy had said and just continue to go on like he had seen nothing and she was the only Montez alive, it was just be so much better. She was so torn and confused that she had just played down on her bed and covered her face with her hands and she didn't even notice that her grandfather was standing in the doorway watching her freak out.

**WITH TROY **

"Why did you need to know," Troy's mom asked after she answered his question. Troy didn't even notice that his mom had said anything else he was so preoccupied with anger filling up his emotions, "It's just something that Gabriella said and I was trying to figure out if I knew what she was talking about."

She looked at him confusingly but decided not to worry about it; she watched as Troy slowly got up and walked out the front door.

Troy didn't know what to do, should he go and tell Gabriella about his mom had just said or was he to keep his mouth shut or was he to go and punch this guy in the face. He roughly put his hands in his pocket and then walked around the block until he reached the house that was directly behind Gabriella's; it was a cute little two story house, it looked just like all the others that were on the block. He just stood there, he was debating on if he should turn around and walk back but that strong protective urge was pulling him towards the maroon colored front door, but as he stood an inch away from the door he didn't know what he was going to say. When he opens the door and he is standing a foot away from this man what is he to say to him or even do to him.

He took a deep breath and counted to three before he rung the door bell. He could hear many voices on the other side of the door before he heard the lock unlatch and the door begin to open; and on the other side was sadly the man he was expecting; Rick Montez or nowadays he's goes by the name Emanuel Gonzales.

"Hi Rick," Troy said.

"Oh crap." 

SO WHAT DID YOU THINK? TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT TO HAPPEN.


	8. Revealing Family Secrets

He walked into the house following behind the man who shares blood with his favorite girl, as he followed he looked around noting that the house looked just like any other people's. It didn't seem to be hiding something within it's walls like he thought it would, it was just like anything else; there were pictures hung on the wall, throw rugs, shoes thrown about the floor, toys splayed across the living room floor and he even caught a quick glance of a woman about the same age as Rick sitting at the dinning room table surrounded by four little girls with a baby boy asleep in her arms as they looked to be doing school work. It was like they were going on in life like nothing ever happened.

He followed him all the way until they reached his office; he closed the door as Troy sat down on one of the awaiting chairs. Troy sat there and waited until Rick sat down at his desk and he started to feel nervous about what Gabriella's brother was going to tell him. He just couldn't tell if it was a good thing or not.

"The first thing you have to know Troy is that our life is extremely complicated," was the first thing Rick said.

**With Gabriella**

Grandpa Montez felt for his granddaughter, he still remembers the time he was going through the exact same thing. There were no words he could think of that would make her better, the answers to her questions were family secrets and they weren't his secrets to share. And he most definitely didn't want to lie to her and that was what the Montez family would want him to do; so even though he felt bad he was going to protect his granddaughter by ignoring her frustrated tears. He took one last look at her before he walked back down stairs and saw her lying down on her bed asleep; Gabriella was always one of those people who fell asleep after a few minutes of crying, her body was so used to her crying to fall asleep so now she's immune. Grandpa Montez walked over to his youngest granddaughter and placed a quick kiss to her forehead, "Tutto sara rivelato, alla fine (all will be revealed, eventually)," he whispered in French. (A/n: Gabriella's dad and his side of the family are Italian and Gabriella's mom and her side of the family are Mexican).

Grandpa Montez walked out of his granddaughter's room quietly shutting the door behind him, pulling his cell phone from his pocket and franticly dialing his son's number, "Luis, Troy ha ditto Gabriella su Ricky non sia un fantasma e ora lei sta chiedendo a chi credere (Luis, Troy told Gabriella about Ricky not being a ghost and now she's wondering who to believe)," he said

"Dannazione. solo bastone con una menzogna, dirle che Troy parve di vedere qualcuno ma in realtà non ha ancora e dire Troy a dire di aver visto un ombra e pensato che fosse qualcuno. (Damn it. just stick with a lie, tell her that Troy thought he saw someone but he really didn't and tell Troy to say that he saw a shadow and thought it was someone.)," Gabriella's dad answered.

"Come fai a sapere che Troy saranno d'accordo a mentire. (How do you know that Troy will agree to lie.)?"

"Perché ho la sensazione che lui ha già capito dove ha visto prima di Rick e lui è andato là a fare qualcosa al riguardo. (Because I have a feeling that he has already figured out where he's seen Rick before and he's gone over there to do something about it.)," Luis Montez said.

**With Troy**

"If you think we did this to hurt her then you are wrong, we wanted her to have her life. The life that she has always known and stay with it. I wouldn't want to see my baby sister, who had nothing to do with what happened, have to suffer because of the bad things that have happened. If she was to know about everything that could put her in danger, it would send up white flags and they would come after her.

Have you ever seen pictures of Gabriella in newspapers or have you read about how Gabriella is the only Montez alive. No! Because they don't know about Gabriella and we definitely don't want them too. Rachel was the last kid they know about. When our mom found out she was pregnant with Gabriella I remember our parents started to panic and I remember that when she was like a week from her due date she told us their plan of fake dying. They told us that we couldn't do it all at once we had to kind of space it out a little and we had to wait on the last few of us to fake die until Gabriella was old enough to really take care of herself. My dad and Robert and Gabe, the twins, were the first to die; it was on their 12th birthday and it was a car accident. Once my dad was gone they thought it was a great opportunity to come after us older boys because once they we were gone then they could have control of my mom and Rachel, so instead of them killing us, me, my wife Alison and our one year old at the time Elly, Gavin and Greg were killed in a home envision when the girls were at the ice rink for Rachel's 9th birthday, they thought that it was great that they didn't have to kill us now because we were gone and the girls were alone but then the girls dropped off the map. They couldn't find them anymore, and the whole time we never tipped Gabriella off we always made it seem like nothing was wrong. I remember that once Gabriella was almost 17 my mom and Rachel would come over here and all of us would talk about the plan of how they were going to die and who Gabriella was supposed to live with. So they died in a car crash as well and then Gabriella was sent to live with our Grandpa," Rick explained.

"You mean your guys' grandpa knows about all of this," Troy asked dumbfounded by everything that Rick explained to all to him.

Rick nodded his head, "Yeah he knows."  
Troy just sat there with his head in his hands, everything that Rick had told him was something that he thought only happened in movies and he was a little scared that Gabriella was going to be found. It was all just a lot to take in. Troy was actually angry at Gabriella's family, he couldn't believe that they would put Gabriella through all that sadness and pain but now that he knows it all his anger level has gone down a tad. He was just afraid that he was going to say something to Gabriella that would put her in danger.

"And sadly my family is the reason your parents died. If my dad would have never told your parents about what happened then they would have never died," Rick said.

Troy's head shot up, "They were killed in a car crash."

"Yes they were but the person who was in the semi was one of their helpers, I guess you could call him," he explained. Troy didn't know what to think, "So that's why our grandpa moved next to you and your new parents because we all wanted to make sure that you were okay and that you also had one of the best life possible and we also wanted Gabriella to have someone to be with her, someone that was her age."

Troy just looked at him like he was crazy that this was just a dream and he wasn't sitting there in Rick's office listening to this story that made him loose his family and the girl he felt protective over to loose everything.

THIS WAS ONLY HALF OF THE MONTEZ FAMILY'S STORY SO STAY TUNED FOR THE WHOLE STORY. SO WHAT DID YOU THINK? TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT TO HAPPEN.

HANNAH


	9. The Effects on the Children

A/N: To those who asked if they were missing something the answer is yes, I have left out the most important part of the story. Don't worry the rest of the story will be explained.

Troy had left Rick's house not long after he finished his story, it was all just a little too much to handle for one day. He didn't know what to think about it all; it's not everyday you find out that the people that are supposed to be dead are actually all alive and living under another identity, he never thought that this was ever going to happen in real life. Once he really thought about it not only was Gabriella being lied to but he was as well; his family was apart of this crazy, confusing, tragic sequence of events and it scared him a little bit.

He lay on his bed and stared up at the ceiling, trying to figure out what to make of this brand new information. Troy knew that if keeping Gabriella safe was the whole point of this heartbreak then he was going to try his hardest to keep her safe as well; he didn't know how he was going to do it but he was going to at least try his hardest.

It kind of made him scared; he never had this urge toward someone before, he never felt as though he needed to be with someone all the time to make his heart be content. He had only spent a little amount of time with Gabriella but he already felt as though he loved her; there was just something about her that outshines every girl that he ever met; she's just so….Gabriella.

With Rick:

He was still sitting in his office at his desk with his hands covering his face when he heard the cheers of his four daughters and their feet running into his office, "Daddy, Daddy look what we got," he looked up and saw his girls waving pieces of paper in the air. He smiled and responded with, "Okay alright lets see," they all pushed themselves towards him, "One at a time," he added.

The girls lined up youngest to oldest like they were used to and waited their turn to show their father what they did, "Okay Gigi (Evangeline) what do you have."

The three year old handed her picture over to her father, a portrait of the entire family, "That is very beautiful Gigi, you got everyone here, even auntie Gabby. Can I keep it," he asked, she smiled widely and nodded her head franticly, "I'll hang it up right here," he continued with grabbing a tack and hanging it on the wall behind him. She gave him a quick hug and kiss before running out to the living room to play.

Next in line was the five year old copy of her mother, "It's my port (Report) card," she said handing it over to her father.

He opened it and smiled when he saw she had passed everything with flying colors, "Wonderful job Em (Emily) you are so smart."

"Mommy says I gragamatated (Graduated) kindergarten," she said excitedly, "I get to pick what we eat for dinner."

He watched as she started towards the door, "Hey Em, make sure you pick something good," he smiled.

"Of course," she added before joining her little sister in the living room with the toys.

"What about you Lizzy (Elizabeth) did you pass the third grade," he asked grabbing his eight year old daughter's piece of paper.

"Of course, but it gets better I am already half way done with fourth grade, so I'll get to pass fourth grade before Christmas," she proudly answered.

"Great job, you are so smart," He said giving her a tight hug, "Go play with your sisters."

She rolled her eyes and groaned, "Just go."

Elizabeth obeyed and walked out of the office just as her mother walked in holding a two month old baby boy in her arms.

"Here's mine daddy," ten year old Elly (Ellison) said somewhat disappointed.

He looked at her questioningly, "Did you not pass?"

"No she did," he heard from the doorway, he looked to see Alison standing there, "She's even been helping me with getting Evangeline ready for school."

"Then what's with the attitude," he asked looking at his oldest daughter. She just looked at him and then looked towards her mother, hoping she would answer that question for her.

"Rick, she wants to go to school," Alison answered shifting the wiggly baby in her arms. He sunk into his chair further, "She already goes to school," he said out of frustration.

"No daddy I want to go to a real school, like waking up early and going to an actual building with other kids, make new friends. When I was little you told me that I could go when I'm in the sixth grade," Elly spoke up.

Rick rubbed his forehead to rid the up in coming headache, "I don't know Ellison. I'm not sure you will be able to handle lying to everyone about who you are."

"I'm not a baby anymore. I know what to say to people, I've been lying about who I am forever. I just want to be a normal kid," she pleaded, "I know that you are just trying to protect us but you have to realize that I can lie with the best of them. I have it all down, I'm Ellison Gonzales I'm ten years old I was born in Sacramento California at a Kaiser hospital at 2:34 am on July twenty fourth, my dad's name is Emanuel Gonzales and my mom's name is Julie Gonzales, we moved to Albuquerque when I was one because your job got transferred and I have three sisters and a brother, my mom home schooled me for my elementary years because that's how she was raised and so now she does it with us and when we get to the sixth grade we get to choose if we want to go to a regular school or not," she recited off.

Rick knew that she was ready but truthfully he just didn't want to risk it, he felt as if he could control the situation more if she stayed at home, "I think about it."

She groaned and rolled her eyes as she stomped away.

He rested his head on his desk in frustration until he felt his wife rubbing his back with her free hand, "She just wants you to realize that it's been extremely hard for her and that she's been working really hard to except everything that's out of her control. She wants you to see that she can handle it, she knows everything that she needs to convince people and she really wants to go."  
He didn't even lift his head, "I said I'll think about it, I already have to worry about Troy spilling everything to Gabriella."

Alison sighed, "You know what I've always wondered, was why you guys never thought about telling Gabriella and just having her pretend. Wouldn't that have been so much easier," she asked.

"We didn't want her to have to lie, we wanted her to have a normal life," he answered, his voice muffled by his desk.

"Yeah because having a family who all died is some sort of tragic accident is normal. Did you ever think about your guys' life, did you ever think about the possibility that your children will resent you because they have to live a life of lies," she brought up.

His slowly lifted his head of the desk, "You know what you make this seem like it was my decision, when my parents thought up this whole plan I tried to put my ideas in, ideas that would make all our lives so much easier but I was kid they weren't going to listen to me. If you didn't want this life then you should have just left when I told you about it all, then you would be working your dream job right now and you wouldn't have to lie every single day of your life," he responded.

He saw her start to tear up, "I stayed because I love you and I would have rather lived this crazy life then be without you. And I love my job as a mom, and I have five beautiful children who I love with all my heart but I have to admit that there are times when I wish that they could, I don't know, be able to go and meet friends without worrying if they will forget to lie about who they are," she explained, "I just cant wait until Troy and Gabriella get married so we can finally spend all our time on getting John and his goons arrested and we can go back to our regular lives."

SO WHAT DID YOU THINK? TELL ME YOUR IDEAS.

HANNAH


	10. Sunday Breakfast

By the time Gabriella woke up it was already the next morning. As she laid there in her bed she wondered if everything that happened was just a dream that she should forget. It was one of those things that she was just going to forget about and never speak of it again. She looked over at the clock on the desk and read nine o' clock; she listened carefully and could hear the clanging of pots and pans from down stairs. She couldn't help but smile as she remembered it was Sunday; a Grandpa Montez tradition was to make a big breakfast with all the favorites on Sunday morning, it was always something that Gabriella looked forward to when she was little, when they all used to go over to his house on Sundays when her and her brothers and sister were really little.

She got up and dressed into clean clothes, trying to make herself look decent before going down stairs. When her feet touched the first floor of her Grandfather's house she could help but smile, she could vividly smell the many aromas roaming through the rest of the house; she didn't know she was really that hungry until she smelt her favorite meal of the day.

A part of her wanted to see her whole family sitting in the kitchen, chatting and just being there but she knew that they weren't going to be there, that the only Montez's that would be there would be herself and her grandfather; but that wasn't going to bring down her excitement.

She quietly walked into the kitchen, hoping to be able to steal a finger full of blueberry pancake batter without her grandfather noticing. However when she got to the kitchen she didn't see her grandfather but instead standing there was the hunky neighbor that she couldn't stop thinking about. She walked over to the island in the middle of the kitchen and sat down on one of the bar stools and waited until Troy noticed that she was sitting there. She waited and waited but he never turned around, she was going to say something but then heard, "You know if you are just going to sit there you might as well say something," Troy said turning around and looking straight into her deep chocolate brown eyes.

"I was waiting for you to realize that I was sitting here before I said something," she responded shyly taking her eyes away from his, she then locked her eyes on the mixing bowl in his hands.

"I'm surprised you haven't asked me what I'm doing here and where your Grandpa is," he smiled.

She looked back at him, "What are you doing here and where is my Grandpa," she grinned.

He continued whisking the batter while he answered, "Your Grandpa is at the store getting more eggs and to answer your other question, me and my family come over to Sunday breakfast every week."

Gabriella looked at him with confusion, she didn't think that her Grandpa still continued with Sunday breakfast; it actually kind of hurt her that he was sharing a such a family thing with strangers, but she could never be mad at her Grandpa it was just in his nature to be around family and share his love with everyone no matter who they were.

Before Gabriella was going to say anything in response she heard a knock on the door, "That will be my parents and my sister," Troy said when he heard the knock, Gabriella was about to go get up to answer the door but heard them open the door and walk in themselves; that was something she was going to have to get used to.

"Gabby," she heard Kaylee cheer as they rest of the Bolton clan walked into the kitchen with multiple bags in their arms. Gabriella looked down at the little girl with a smile, "Hey guys," she responded.

The kitchen went silent for a bit, only the sound of bacon sizzling in the pan was heard; Mrs. Bolton didn't seem to want to talk to Gabriella when the young girl turned to her with a smile. However Gabriella didn't mind, she knew that she was just going with her gut and she could understand that her gut would tell her to keep her son away from her especially because the first real time she saw her was when she was pulled into the arms of her son, not really the thing you want your hormonal teenager to be doing.

"Dang who are you feeding, the whole neighborhood," Mr. Bolton finally broke the silence as he talked to his son.

Troy smiled and shrugged his shoulders, "I guess I just caught carried away," He looked towards Gabriella and gave her a wink. Gabriella felt her cheeks start to burn and she knew that he face was a deep red, she swiftly turned her sight away from the boy and thankfully her Grandfather walked into the kitchen at the same time; it gave her an excuse to look away.

"Glad you finally woke up Gabriella, I thought I was going to have to pour water on you," Grandpa Montez joked as he put his grocery bags on top of the counter.

Gabriella smiled as she watched Troy and Mr. Bolton put away the contents of the bags, "I didn't know that you still did Sunday breakfast, I think that last Sunday I was here was when I was five."

"Yeah I do remember," He responded, "But now it's a whole lot better now that Troy makes it," Gabriella turned to look at Troy, "He's extremely gullible, a few years ago I convinced him that he should let me teach him how to cook. So now it's his job."

She looked back at her Grandfather, "Well we'll see who is better," she playfully said.

"I'm telling you Gabs, he is way better then me. You should ask him to teach you, like you've always wanted," He said quietly.

He gave his granddaughter a hug then walked into the dinning room with plates in his arms, "I may have to take him up on that," Gabriella whispered to herself with a smile drew on her face.

Fifteen Minutes away in North Valley New Mexico:

Thirty two year old Matthew Diaz, a.k.a Gavin Montez, walked into his parent's house holding his three year old son, Liam, in his arms, and his wife and his twin six year olds, Noah and Nevaeh, following behind him. Maria Montez was sitting in the kitchen with her husband when she heard her son and his family walked into the house. She was still getting used to seeing her children in person, now that they were grown up; she had seen pictures and talked to them on the phone occasionally over the years but never actually got to physically hug them or see them, it was a very liberating feeling.

When they all reached the kitchen Maria got off her stool and ran to greet them with hugs and kisses, "You've been here for what three weeks and you still are acting like this," Gavin joked.

"Oh shut up, I'm just making up for the nine years I didn't get to hug and kiss you," she said playfully slapping her son's chest.

Gavin smiled then turned more serious, "So did you know that Troy is now in the loop," he asked.

Maria looked at her son shocked but Luis Montez was not, "What? When? How," She stumbled.

"Yesterday morning," Gavin answered putting Liam down on the ground, "I guess he somehow figured out that Rick was living behind Grandpa and Gabriella and started ask Rick what was going on, so he told him all about it; well everything except the marrying part. Rick said that Troy understood that telling Gabriella would be an extremely bad thing, so he's now apart of our grand lie."

Maria rolled her eyes, "I just hope that he is the right guy for Gabriella," she said picking up her grandson into her arms.

"Come on mom, do you really think that we would pick a guy that wasn't right for her, are you crazy. She's our baby sister, of course we would make sure that he was not only a great guy but also a guy that we knew Gabriella would love," Gavin said wrapping his arm around his wife, Jennifer.

"You know that once Gabriella finds out that you guys 'picked' the guy she is supposed to marry she's going to flip on you," Maria said shifting Liam in her arms.

"Who says she's going to find out?"

Maria smirked, "It's Gabriella she'll figure it out someway. She better fall madly in love with this boy, because she will hate you if you picked a boy just because she needed to change her last name, so for your guys' sake I hope she loves this boy," Maria said before taking her grandchildren into the living room where some of their toys were.

Gavin looked over at his wife, "I with her on this one," she said before she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before joining her mother in law in the living room.

Back in Albuquerque:

The infamous Sunday breakfast was over, to Gabriella's sheer delight. It was extremely awkward with Mrs. Bolton continuously eyeing Gabriella down every time she noticed Troy looking over at the young girl with a big smiled spread across his face.

It was about a half and hour after the end of breakfast and Gabriella was lying in the hammock in her Grandfather's backyard, just staring up at the sky. She heard the gate open and turned her head toward the fence and saw Troy walking towards her, "You do know that you live next door right," Gabriella teased.

"Yeah well maybe I wanted to come over and entertain you, seeing as you know no other teenager in the neighborhood," Troy grinned as he laid down next to her on the hammock.

"How do you know who I know, I could very well know more people in Albuquerque then you do," she said turning her head to face him.

She felt her heart start up extremely fast as she realized how close they really were on that hammock, she had never been that close to a boy that wasn't a family member and it was a little nerve wracking. She could feel his hot breath on her lips and immediately felt the butterflies; Troy the exact same thing happened in his body. They scanned each other's face, trying to memorize every part of it, they both smiled at each other before leaning in closer and connecting there lips. No awkward first kiss for Gabriella, they kissed like they were so used to each other; their bodies just molded into the others.

SO WHAT DID YOU THINK? SLOWLY MORE INFO ABOUT THEIR LIVES WILL BE ADDED IN. HANNAH


	11. Dancing Secrets

Every single part of their brains had shut down. All they were thinking about was each other. It was a surprise to Gabriella that she was feeling so confident as her lips danced along with Troy's, she had never done anything with a boy that would ever come remotely close to the kiss she was now sharing with the blue eyes hunk laying next to her on her grandfather's hammock. Troy felt the same way as Gabriella; he had kissed many girls in his seventeen year existence but he never felt the way with those girls like he did with Gabriella, their was just something about her that he couldn't explain; he couldn't even explain it to himself. All he knew was that he never wants to rid his body, mind and soul of that feeling.

It was as thought there was no sign of stopping their dance but it did eventually end when their bodies needed more oxygen. Once Gabriella's brain decided to work again she began to understand what she had just done. As she stared into his deep baby blues she searched her feelings. She wanted to know if what she was feeling was real love or id it was just teenaged hormonal sexual attraction.

She could somehow tell that Troy was different; she had witnessed her sister fall n and out of love so many times and always vowed that she was never going to fall in love. Rachel never seemed to have a boyfriend that would look at her like Troy would when he thought about Gabriella. So Gabriella never really witnessed teenaged love; however now that Gabriella was laying there and feeling butterflies creep through her whole body she imagined that she was really in love,

A clearing of the throat sound was heard and Gabriella's head immediately turned to see Troy's mother hanging onto the fence from Mrs. Bolton's backyard, whereas Troy kept his eyes of Gabriella's face, not really caring that his mom was giving the girl he loves the evil eyes. Gabriella on the other hand was freaked out; she didn't know what to do, he body was frozen.

"Troy," Troy's head turned to see his mom and immediately sat up, "I need you to take Kaylee to dance."

Troy nodded his head, "Okay I'll be there in a second," he responded then watched his mom climb off of whatever she was standing on, on the other side of the fence and walk off.

He turned back to Gabriella when he felt her climb out of the hammock, he saw her walking towards the house, "Wait Gabriella," he called.

She stopped in her tracks, took a deep breath then turned around the see the hotness that is Troy Bolton standing up by the hammock with a confused look on his face.

"What's wrong," he asked slowly inching towards her current position.

Gabriella rolled her eyes, "What's wrong? I was just caught making out with a guy that I've known for less than two weeks by his mom who already hates me, that's what's wrong," she sarcastically answered.

Troy hung his head in embarrassment, he understood why she had reacted that way, "Do you want to come with me," he asked, "We can talk about what just happened, and I can try to convince you that my mom doesn't hate you."

"Uhhh," Gabriella was unsure, "I don't know. I don't want you to get you in trouble."

Troy grabbed her hands in his and tired to make eye contact as she stared down at her feet, "It'll be fine Gabriella; it gives us an opportunity to get to know each other more."

She looked up at him, "But what about your mom?"

"She can't tell me who I can and can't like," he said with his winning smile, which made Gabriella's cheeks warm up and look down at her feet.

Troy placed a kiss on Gabriella's cheek before he ran to his house, giving Gabriella time to tell her grandfather and get ready.

Ten minutes later Gabriella was giving her grandpa a hug and kiss before running out of the house and into Troy's car with a giant smile on her face on their way to Kaylee's dance class.

At the home of Luis, Maria and Rachel Montez in North Valley, New Mexico:

All the Montez children, sans Gabriella, and their own families were at their parent's house that Sunday. The boys were in the den cheering on a baseball game while the girls were in the living room catching up, just like they did when they were all alive, so to speak.

"Auntie Ray I have a favor to ask," Ellison, Rick's oldest daughter said catching her Aunts attention. All of the Montez women, including the ones who married into the family looked over at the young girl wondering what she was going to ask.

"Is it something your dad would kill me for," Rachel smiled.

"No, well I don't think so," Elly answered, "I was hoping that I could convince you to talk to my dad and tell him that I should go to school."

"Ellison Ashton Montez, you don't around asking your aunt to do that for you. That is between you and your father," Allison spoke up as she sat next to her Rachel and gave her baby boy a bottle.

"Ugh! But mom you know he won't do it if I'm the one asking, and if Aunt Rachel is doing to then he will actually listen and consider it," the ten year old turned back to her Aunt, "Please. I'll love you forever if you do this for me."

They all laughed, "It's glad to know that you already don't love me forever," Rachel teased, "Sorry Elly-Bean, it sounds like your mom wants you to do it yourself," Elly's eyes turned sad, "But I do have some advice, your dad has always been a sucker for the puppy dog eyes, its how me and Gabriella got him to do things for us for years."

Elly's eyes lit back up as she smiled and then ran into the den to find her father.

"I really hope he does say yes," Allison whispered to Rachel.

"Me too," Rachel said back.

The room was quiet until Rachel spoke up, "Um okay so tell me again why Rick wanted to move behind Grandpa, doesn't he know that Gabriella could easily see him."

All the girls' attention was turned to the newest member of the secretly alive Montez family, the expressions on their faces turned into depressed looks; it was as though they really didn't want to be reminded that they were living secret lives and their whole lives are basically revolved around the youngest Montez.

"He wanted to keep a close eye on her, make sure that nobody could hurt her and that she was happy; he hates himself everyday for what he did, not only to her but all of us. I know that if he could take it all back he would, he would never have gone with Gavin to that warehouse," Allison manned up and answered.

"Yeah I guess that's a good reason," Rachel responded with a bowed head, "Is he still trying to find them?"

Allison nodded her head silently, "Yep, After work he comes home and plays with the kids before dinner, then once we are all done eating he goes and hides in his office all night watching surveillance videos and finding credit card records. I swear one day he's going to go crazy if he can't find them."

"And if Gavin wasn't the chief of police and Rick wasn't his employee then they would have never found the information that they have found already," Jennifer, Gavin's wife responded.

Rachel sighed, "When did our life get so complicated."

"February 19, 1993," They all said in unison.

With Troy and Gabriella in Albuquerque, New Mexico at Kimberly's Dance Academy:

"Wow she's really good," Gabriella whispered to Troy as they sat in the spectator seating. Even though his focus should have been on his little sister Troy couldn't help but find himself watching Gabriella, "Yeah she is. I don't think there is ever a time she isn't dancing around the house," he responded.

Gabriella kept her gaze on Kaylee as she spoke, "I remember when I was like five, maybe a little older I pleaded my dad to let me take dance lessons but he wouldn't let me, even though he let Rachel take them. So everyday after Rachel would come home from her lessons she would teach me all the things she learned that day."

Troy saw her facial expression turn sad and he immediately looked away, he didn't want to see her look that way; he saw the little girls dancing and he imagined a little version of Gabriella dancing around with a big smile of her face.

Quickly that image went away as he turned back to Gabriella and putting his hand atop of hers that was resting on her lap, "Maybe you could teach me a think or two," he said with a smile when Gabriella turned her gaze to Troy's crystals that are commonly known as eyes.

"No offense but I don't really see you as a dancing kind of guy," Gabriella teased.

"Excuse me are you saying that I'm not cool enough to prove to you that I can dance, oh I will be definitely show you my moves later," Troy smiled as Gabriella blushed.

Minutes had past and Troy and Gabriella were talking and laughing, much to the other mother's dismay.

"So enough about me, tell me about who Troy Bolton is," Gabriella said criss-crossing her legs on the plastic chair trying to face Troy more.

Troy shrugged his shoulders, "Well there is nothing too exciting about me, I'm just a boring seventeen year old basketball guy," he answered.

"Come on there has to be some cool stories to share about your life," Gabriella said tapping her knee with his, "I've told you everything about me so now it's your turn to tell me about you; I mean after all I would like to know more about the guy who's mother hates me," she said trying to guilt him into answering.

Troy rolled his eyes, "For the last time my mom doesn't hate you," Gabriella interrupted, "You didn't see the look she was giving me; it was though I was some whore taking her little boy away from her or something, I'm telling you she had this I'm an axe murderer look on her face."

Troy couldn't help but chuckle, "Yeah well then you're just going to have to learn to ignore her if you want me to continue kissing you," he smoothly said with a smile as he saw Gabriella's cheeks turn beat red.

WHAT DID YOU THINK? TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT TO HAPPEN.


	12. Tree House Apologies

A/N: this chapter will mark the start of the m rating, so beware. Thanks for reading!

Kaylee's dance lesson had ended over six hours ago and Troy and Gabriella had spent that whole time together. It was nearing seven-thirty at night and the two teenagers were sitting on the balcony connected to the room Gabriella was sleeping in; Gabriella didn't quite feel comfortable calling it her room just yet. Gabriella looked over into Troy's yard and smiled when she saw a tree house, "Yeah me and my dad built it," Troy answered when she questioned the big building hanging on the giant oak tree in his backyard, "I complained for weeks that I was the only kid in the world who did have one, he was so tired of me whining and sulking around the house, so one morning I woke up because I heard hammers and drills and when I looked out the window I saw my dad building my tree house."

Gabriella smiled as she saw his face light up, "I had to be about six, a year older then Kaylee is now, and I thought that it was the coolest thing that I had my own tree house and that I could decorate it any way I wanted and invite all my friends over and gloat that my tree house was better then there's; it was awesome," Gabriella's smile grew even more, she could tell that this was his favorite memory, "When we were twelve me and my best friend Chad deemed it a girl free zone, mostly because that was when Kaylee was born and I didn't want her to mess up my stuff."

"You're horrible," Gabriella said jokingly slapping his arm still with a big smile plastered on her face.

"We were twelve year old boys what do you expect, it was before we even started liking girls. And once we did start to like girls we realized that girls didn't like tree houses, they thought they were too kid-ish; but I'll tell you a secret that no girl knows, well except my mom," Gabriella waited anxiously, "That's where I go to everyday when I write; it's my most favorite place in the whole wide world."

Gabriella looked at him with admiring eyes, she was extremely happy that Troy was willing to share something so personal with her; well I guess that I was only far that he shared things with her considering she had shared many things with him.

"Do you think I could maybe see it, I've always thought that Tree houses were cool. We used to have one in our back yard when we lived in New Jersey, my dad and my two oldest brothers built it and they had a lot of fun in it but then me and Rachel came around and we wanted to play in the tree house too but the boys didn't want us in their space so my dad put up a wall right down the middle of whole thing and put in another door so that one side was the boys and the other was the girls. I loved that tree house."

Troy smiled his world winning smile, "It sounds like your dad wasn't all bad, he may have not let you take dance classes but he did make the boys' tree house into a tree house for all of you guys."

Gabriella's smile retracted, "Yeah he was a great dad, he always tried to make me feel like I was included in everything but sadly I didn't always show him the same respect. Now that I am older I'm starting to realize things that I didn't before, and my dad's happiness is one of them."

Troy saw the sadness in her eyes as she spoke these words, he grabbed her hand in his trying to console her; he looked into her chocolate brown eyes and smiled brightly when he came up with an idea that would cheer her up, "Come on I want to show my favorite hideout."

Her eyes lit up and followed behind Troy as they walked out of her Grandfathers house and to the front door of his house.

"Wait," Gabriella said as she stopped dead in her tracks before Troy opened his front door, "What about your mom?"

Troy rolled his eyes, still thinking that Gabriella was crazy for thinking his mom hates her, "Gabriella its fine she doesn't hate you," Gabriella still had a grimacing look on her face, "and just to make you feel better I'll tell you that my mom isn't here. On Sunday nights she and her friends go to one of their houses; like a rotation. So chill."

Gabriella smiled and accepted a hand that Troy was offering and walked into his house.

The two teenagers ran into Troy's father on their way to the backyard, "Hey dad, I'm going to show Gabriella the tree house and we're going to hang out up there for a little while," Troy nonchalantly said.

Jack Bolton smiled and nodded his head, "Go have fun, stay up there as long as you want. I'll tell mom that you went Sharpay's; that'll keep her off your back for the night."

Troy sent his father a thanking glance before he opened the sliding glass door and Gabriella walked out into the small breeze, "She must be really special," Mr. Bolton whispered to his son before he joined Gabriella in the backyard.

At the home of Luis and Maria Montez:

All of the Montez's were out in the backyard going for a night swim except Rick; he was sat on his parents couch with his red plastic cup full of Vodka he stole from his parent's pantry staring at the their last whole family photo. His focus on the picture was sidelined when he heard the sliding glass door open. He turned his head and saw Rachel.

"Hey big brother," she said walking over to him and sitting next to him on the couch, "Are you going to tell me what's wrong or am I going to have to guess?"

Rick rolled his eyes and took a sip of his drink, "It's nothing, I just wanted to be alone; I don't know get some me time before we go home and I have to help in the raising of my five children as well as doing my job twenty four seven."

Rachel rested her head on her brother's shoulder, "Me time sounds great but I don't think that you should be downing yourself with Vodka to make your me time feel less depressing."

Rick didn't answer, he turn his attention back to his family's photo that was hanging on the wall of his parents' house, "Did she have a happy life," was the next words that came out of his mouth.

Rachel's head rose from her big brother's shoulder as looked over at the picture where his eyes were focusing on and once she realized who he was talking about she answered with a, "You know how she is."  
"Rachel is our baby sister happy," he said a little frustrated.

Rachel wiped away a tear that had surprisingly slipped from her eye, "Yes, she's happy."

Rick nodded his head and closed his eyes for a second as he felt his eyes begin to water, "Then all of this is worth it," his voice shakingly said, "All of our hard work and secret lives are worth it because she gets to be happy."

"Does that mean you aren't happy," Rachel asked looking at her brothers sad eyes.

"I don't know, I mean I should be right? I have five beautiful children and a wife I love, a family who is willing to give up everything for all of us, and I'm alive; what else is there to make me happy? I just feel as though it's my duty to spend the rest of my life devoted to fixing my mistake and I know that in doing that we all have to sacrifice a lot of things; my daughter is pleading me to let her go to school, to school Rachel; I'm telling my daughter that she can't go to school, great parenting huh?"

"Rick this isn't your fault and it will never be your fault; you and Gavin weren't the murders," Rachel said trying to make him feel better about himself.

"But I was the one who they over heard telling Gavin that if we get caught they will kill all of us, him, me, Greg, Robert, Gabe and you; if I would have never told Gavin about what Kevin said about there being a rave down at the warehouse we wouldn't be having this conversation right now.

In the infamous tree house in Troy Bolton's backyard:

Minutes had passed and the Troy had already gave Gabriella the grand tour, showing her his writing station, his and Chad's childhood toys and the small sky light on the top of the ceiling.

They had been in there for a good half an hour before they both got comfortable on the bean bag in the corner. The blue seat was barely big enough for both of them so their bodies were quite close; however neither of the teens had a problem with that. Troy grabbed Gabriella's hand and began rubbing random figures with his finger on her palm in the silence, "What are you doing," Gabriella whispered looking up at his beautiful face that was being illuminated by the moon coming in from the sky light.

"I don't know, just drawing; it's what I do when I'm thinking about something important," he answered looking up at her beautiful eyes.

"What's this important thing you're thinking about," Gabriella asked as her stomach began to feel with butterflies.

"You," he said before bashfully looking away from her eyes instead looking back down at her and his hands.

Gabriella felt her heart rate speed up, "What about me; if you are regretting showing me your tree house I can leave and never speak about it again," she said feeling a little guilty.

"Oh no way, I'm glad I brought you up here. I can't think of anyone else I would have rather bring," He said looking back up into her eyes, "I was just thinking about this," he said gesturing to him and her.

"What is this exactly," she shyly asked.

Troy shrugged his shoulders as he continued drawing on Gabriella's hand, "I'm not sure, that's why I was doing some serious thinking."

"Well what do you want it to be," Gabriella said with a sigh as she looked down at her hand.

He laced his fingers with hers before he looked up at her and brushed away a few strands of her hair out of her face; he locked his hand on her neck and pulled their lips together.

This kiss started out like the one they shared earlier in the day but as their lips continued to move together it seemed to get more and more filled with need, and neither one of them really started to notice that their bodies got closer and closer together; they didn't even care that they were no longer on the bean bag and that they had moved to the ground with Troy nestled in between Gabriella's legs continuing their heated kiss.

"Is that a clear enough answer for you," Troy said when they had to take a breathing break.

"I don't know I think I need more convincing," Gabriella answered with a big smile; she was extremely surprised that she had enough confidence to do what she was doing and she was somewhat happy with herself, "Mmmmm," she moaned as she felt Troy's soft skillful lips attach to her neck. She was having this wonderful feeling that was a mixture of a nauseating feeling because of all the butterflies hanging out in her stomach a and satisfying warming of her whole body; now she officially knew what it felt like to fall for a boy, a really cute boy.

Her body grew even warmer when she felt Troy's big hands caressing the skin of her hips and stomach; his hands were so soft, she thought thinking that because he's a basketball player that his hands would be so calloused. Determined to do something way out of character Gabriella reached her small hands to the edge of his blue t-shirt and proceed to slowly pull it up his chest hoping that Troy would get what she was trying to do and assist her in the task of removing his shirt. Troy took his lips off her neck for a few seconds so he could help Gabriella pull his shirt over his head; instead of going back to her neck his placed his lips back on the beauty underneath him. His hands had now began to inch further and further underneath Gabriella's shirt; he quickly reached her bra, making note that it wasn't some crazy lace thing which he liked; he was never one for a girl who tried to be all superficial about what she wore, he much liked a girl who was comfortable in sweatpants and regular old Hanes underwear, he actually hoped that Gabriella had some sort of cute print on hers.

Gabriella softly pushed Troy away before she reached down and rid her body with her own shirt; however once she did she felt her self consciousness consume her and folded her arms in front of her, hoping that it would hide her body. Troy gave her a loving glance and softly placed his hands on her arms, "It's okay Gabriella, you don't have to be shy around me. I think you are beautiful."

She smiled up at him a started to feel her eyes start to well up from happiness; she unfolded her arms from around her body but instead wrapped them around his neck. Troy gave her a kiss to her forehead before taking his lips down right in between Gabriella's breast; he couldn't help but chuckle when the tree house filled with sounds of Gabriella's moans, he now realized that his basketball shorts were getting a little tight and they were getting a little uncomfortable.

Gabriella found it cute that when Troy reached to the back of her bra trying to figure out how to get the damn thing open, she sensed his struggle and reached behind her back and easily rid her body of the light yellow bra. Troy felt his heart skip a beat when he saw her bare chest; Gabriella was truly beautiful. He loved that she wasn't this bimbo with triple d breast, hers were c and fit perfectly in his hands; he figured that out when he reached and massaged the left one while showering the other with kisses and suckles. At that moment Gabriella officially realized that her body was starting to flush and her underwear began to feel heavy as they started to fill with her arousal. Her whole body was swarming with feelings she never had before and there was no way she was going to stop them now.

Troy slowly skimmed his hands down her sides until he reached her jeans; he silently cursed himself when he realized that his hands were way to big to easily open the small button to her jeans but once he actually took a second to feel the button to her pant he noticed that they were open; Gabriella had a feeling that if he couldn't unclasp her bra then he definitely was going to be able to un button her pants, so courteously she had opened it for him.

"Thanks," Troy whispered lifting his head from her chest.

"No problem," she answered with a smile before she pulled him back to her lips for at first a sweet kiss that swiftly grew to something extremely heated.

Troy felt as though he was more nervous about what was going to happen, even though he was the most popular guy in school as well as the most handsome he had never gotten even remotely close to a girl like he is with Gabriella at that moment, he was often made fun of by his fellow basketball players because he could get any girl he wanted but he would never sleep with her; they thought of him ridiculous when he would say that no girl was worth giving his love to, that he wanted to do it when he felt comfortable and when he thought he finally found that one special person who he knew would up a leave in the morning before he woke up. He had this strong feeling that Gabriella could be that girl.

Gabriella's jeans were pulled off of her body and Troy couldn't help but smile as he noticed her white underwear that read 'Tuesday' written across the front, he placed a kiss right above the white garment then crawled back up to her lips, "It's Sunday, you're a couple days off," he whispered against her lips.

"Are you making fun of me," Gabriella responded with a smile.

"Oh never," Troy smiled back before he continued a loving kiss. Gabriella could feel the bulge of Troy's pants pressing against her own crotch which made moans and other loud sounds emit from her; feeling a rush of confidence she reached down to his basketball shorts and pulled down his boxers as well as his shorts; she felt like a pervert so she tried her best to keep her eyes from looking down at Troy's penis but her curiosity took over and she looked down. She had seen many penis' in her school's text books, being as Science is her favorite subject she was never really shy about seeing those type of diagrams but at that moment she was beginning to get shy as well as starting to panic as she thought about how he was going to fit.

Troy placed a hand lovingly on the side of her face and began their kiss again, hoping it would make her feel better. Gabriella could feel Troy's hands shaking with nervousness as he put his hands on the top of her underwear; she put her own hands on top of his trying to make him calm a bit and helped him pull down her underwear. Being a teenaged boy Troy had many conversations with his friends and saw many naked pictures of girls and every time his friends would call girls with hair patch above their vagina gross and the girls who removed theirs were so hot but as Troy looked down at Gabriella's body he couldn't help but feel that Gabriella was the most beautiful sexy woman in the world.

Troy gave her a questioning look as he lined their bodies up and he gave her a kiss on the forehead when she nodded her head. He slowly started to push in, trying his hardest no to hurt her but once he broke through her hymen he saw the tears start to crawl from her eyes and her bottom lip was tightly bit by her top teeth, trying not to scream. He felt so bad and he himself felt water starting to well up in his eyes but he could help but releasing his load from all of the tight pressure of Gabriella's virginal womanhood. He immediately pulled out and walked over to the opposite wall with his hands covering his eyes and water began to pour from his eyes, "I'm so sorry, that was so bad. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you," Gabriella slowly sat up and looked over at him with tears in her eyes, but this time the tears wasn't of pain it was of sadness that she felt because of how badly Troy felt, "I'm so sorry," He repeated.

WHAT DID YOU THINK? I WANTED TO SHOW HOW THE FIRST TIME TRULY IS. TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT TO HAPPEN.

HANNAH


	13. Loving Leads

Gabriella softly brushed a small piece of hair out of the beautiful boy's sun kissed face as he slept; God he was even more beautiful when he slept. Gabriella was lying comfortably on a few blankets on the tree house floor snuggled into Troy's chest, his body heat keeping her nice and warm. Her heart ached when she looked at his face and still saw reminisces of the many tears that had falling from his eyes, the conversation they had about three hours ago had them loosing their body weight in tears and it made them grow closer; it was like they had been together for years and they had grown so comfortable with each other.

*Flashback*

Gabriella grabbed a Superman blanket that was lying next to the bean bag and slowly stood up groaning from the pain growing in her pelvis and walked over to Troy and wrapped the blanket around his shoulders, "You don't have to apologize," she tried to pull his hands from his face but he wouldn't budge, "It's a natural thing, it's just something that I was going to have to experience eventually."  
Troy shook his head with his hands still firmly attached to his face, "No, if I wasn't careless then I would have tried to make it so that you wouldn't get hurt but I didn't, I was too caught up in my own feelings that I hurt you and I even," he paused not knowing what word would be best to use in this situation.

"And even what, came, orgasmed, ejaculated is that the words you're looking for," she teasingly responded continuing to pull his hands away from his beautiful face, "Troy I don't think bad of you, it happens. And I know that you were genuinely concerned because I saw it in your eyes, your heart was in the right place it was just your brain that took over."  
Troy groaned, "But that still doesn't justify the fact that I hurt you, and that you will more then likely be hurt for a while. I should have just told you how I felt about you rather then showing you, the rejection would have been easier with words."

Gabriella angrily stomped her feet and walked back to her clothes, she really wanted to stomp all the way back to her grandfather's house but she kind of need clothes, "I can't believe you just said that."  
Troy's hands slowly retracted from his face when he noticed the sincere anger in her statement, "What?"

Gabriella looked up as she with extreme slowness pulled her jeans on, "I just had sex for the first time with a guy that I've known for what, two weeks, after I had one of the best days of my life with this guy, if that's what you call rejection I would love to see what you consider a girl expressing love to you; that must be pretty damn fantastic," she responded still trying to redress as fast as she could considering her pain, "You make me feel like a different person. Any one that knows me would say that this, this extremely open sort of person that you see is nothing close to what I'm like to other people. When I'm around you I not shy or afraid of anything, you make me so safe and when I'm with you I don't worry about what I say or do because I know that you won't be upset with whatever I do. And when you said that I was going to reject you because we didn't have fabulous sex, that's when you truly hurt me," she finished as she wiped away new tears and made he way towards the door.

Troy wrapped the blanket around his waist and rushed over to Gabriella, grabbing her hand preventing her from leaving, "Gabriella I'm sorry I didn't mean it like that. Well I guess I technically did mean it that way but I've seen so many of my best friends that have had girls leave them because they couldn't put out like they wanted, and I've never seen them so sad after it happened; I just didn't want to feel like that."  
"If you would have stopped and thought about me then you would have realized that I'm not anything like those girls, I would never do something like that," she looked up at his ocean eyes and saw that they were starting to well up in his eyes just like hers, "I wanted you to be different, I wanted you to not be like every other boy and you assuming that I would do something like that after all the time we've spent together really hurts me.'

Troy felt his heart break into millions of pieces, "I wanted you to be one of those guys you see in the movies who think just watching movies and eating pizza and chocolate covered strawberries is the best date ever, I wanted you to be someone who would willingly give up basketball time with his buddies to do homework with me, I wanted you to be one of those guys who thinks I'm mad at him when I tell him to go have a guy's night," she sighed and looked away, "But now I'm not so sure you'll be able to handle that."

His grasp tightened on Gabriella's hands and silently shifted closer to her until their chest were touching, "I want to be that guy, I know I can do it," he responded lifting her head with his right pointer finger to connect her eyes with his, "You are everything that I love in a woman and I wouldn't change one thing about you; I love when you blush and your whole face turns beat red, I love when you get nervous and you bit your bottom lip and play with your fingers, I love when I'll look over and you have this giant smile on your face just for no reason, I love that even though you have been through some crazy shit you pick yourself up and tell yourself that everything happens for a reason. I love that even though I hurt you, and don't say I didn't, you are still sitting here and talking to me. I love that you don't think I'm a major pussy because I'm spilling my heart out to you and I'm crying on top of that."

Gabriella's lips formed into a small smile, "I love that you cry, it makes you just that more adorable," she quickly placed a small peck on his lips before she pulled away and said, "If you can promise me that you won't hurt me then I'll let you in here," she said bringing one of his hands up to her heart.

"I promise," he said before letting go of her hands and picking her up in his arms and connecting his lips to hers.

After about a thirty seconds Troy pulled away not really for lack of oxygen but more out of awkwardness, "Um sorry I don't mean to break up that amazing kiss but can I put my clothes on, I kind of feel like a dirty pervert standing here in nothing but a blanket; unless you like it," he teased.

Gabriella playfully slapped his chest before she untangled herself from Troy so he could walk over to the other end of the tree house and quickly redress himself.

*End of Flashback*

Gabriella never thought that she would be laying there with a boy in his tree house in the middle of the night; she never would have thought that she would even have the courage to even carry on a full conversation with a boy let alone let one see her naked and vulnerable, it was a surreal feeling. She felt as though it was like her heart no longer felt hurt and the ten pieces that it was ripped into were now starting to mend back together; there will always be scars but her hope is that they won't rip open again.

In that moment she didn't care what time it was, she knew that her Grandfather would automatically know where she was if she wasn't there when he woke up in the morning. Soon she could feel her eyes start to grow heavy and then she was fast asleep.

Seven A.M: Albuquerque Police Station

Matthew Diaz or otherwise known as Gavin Montez sat in his office staring out the glass walls of his office staring at his little brother who was staring at his computer with determination just like every single minute of every single day; Gavin's heart aches every time he sees his little brother because he can see how much he hurts. He, like Rick, blames himself for what happened to their family; if he had just been one of those big brothers who looks out for their little brothers, who tries to steer them in the right direction they wouldn't be in this position; what fifteen year old brings along his thirteen year old brother to a rave and thinks that it's perfectly okay to do so.

He glanced back at his computer and it reminded him why he looked up at his brother in the first place, the screen read an extremely important piece of information that could make or break his whole family but in that moment he didn't know if he wanted to tell his brother about it, he didn't want him to obsess over it and go even more crazy over it; but he knew he had to tell him. So he slowly stood up from his chair and walked over to the door, stuck his head out and yelled, "Manny come here for a sec," then turned back to his desk, not wanting to watch Rick look up from his work and question why he was interrupting him from important work.

"What man," Rick said just sticking his head into his brother's office.

"Come in here I have something important to show you," Gavin answered shifting his seat over to let his little bro look at the screen as well. Rick rolled his eyes in frustration then walked over to his brother's desk anticipating something that he already knew but he was going to give his brother credit but when he read the words on the screen he felt his heart stop for a few seconds.

Immediately he grabbed a pen off of his brother's desk and quickly wrote down the need to know information on the palm of his hand, "What are you doing," Gavin asked.

"I have to go; I have to go to that dock. It's the only way that I can stop this whole thing."  
"You can't go there by yourself are you crazy, they could easily kill you for real this time. It's suicide," Gavin yelled.

"Gavin I have to go, this is just something that I have to do. I need to end this once and for all," He took a deep breath, "I want all of our lives to be normal again."

"I do too but I'm not going to let you go there all by yourself, no way in hell I am going to be the reason you get your ass killed. We have to do this the right way."

"No, I'm not going to wait around and do things by the book. You've convinced me twice to do things right so that we don't get hurt but every time we've missed our chance and no way in hell am I going to let you convince me again because this needs to be done. What you don't seem to understand is that I am willing to do whatever it takes; are you because it doesn't seem like you are and this is not just my family that is effected, you're children are going to get older and they are going to wonder why they are living a lie and you are going to have explain to them that they have to live their life this way because their father is too chicken to do anything about it. I'm sick and tired of looking into my girls' eyes and wondering what it would be like if they could just have a normal life, I want to teach them that lying is bad but how can I teach them that when every single day I wake up and lie to the world about everything about me. I'm tired Gavin," Rick said his voice getting sad as he tried to hold back his tears, "I want to know my baby sister and I want to make sure that she's letting people into her life, that she's not scared of loving people because of this stupid jackass who thinks he's better than everyone else. Please Gavin come on lets get some strong officers and let's go we're wasting time," Rick pleaded.

The eldest Montez son thought about it for a second and looked at his little brother's pleading eyes, "Fine let's go."

SO WHAT DID YOU THINK? TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT TO HAPPEN.

HANNAH


	14. Best Day Part One

The next morning Gabriella found herself in the bed in her grandfather's office, she sat up and looked around wondering if maybe everything that she thought happened the night before didn't but when her eyes scanned towards the desk she saw a folded piece of paper leaning up against a pencil holder with her name boldly written across the front. She smiled brightly then leaned over to grab it, stopping in her tracks letting out a low groan when she felt the muscles of her legs, stomach and vagina start to ache; in that moment she knew that last night was real. You would have thought that she would have cried or even frowned when she felt her muscles ache but she actually had a big bright smile on her face because she thought about the good things that happened that night because she ached. Pushing through her ache she reached over to the desk and grabbed the folded piece of paper:

_Gabi,_

_I know that you probably are wondering why you are back in your room instead of in the tree house, well I know that you are afraid of my mother and what she thinks about you so when I woke up around two in the morning I realized that it would be a good idea to be in our respective beds in the morning. Don't ask me how I got you out of the tree house because you wouldn't believe me if I did tell you, I think you even told me not to leave you alone a few times as you hit me in the face. Anyways, I just wanted to let you know that no you didn't dream out what happened last night. I'm hoping that you aren't regretting anything; I'm hoping that you remember everything that we talked about last night because I meant everything I said, well all the stuff after I was being a total ass. I just want you to remember that you mean a lot to me. _

_ And with that said I was wondering if you would meet me in the tree house at about 8 this morning, I already talked to your grandpa and he said that you have to go because I'm your babysitter for the day; I somehow convinced him that he should take the day and spend it with his girlfriend. So I'll see you in a little bit. _

_Troy_

She smiled and re-read it a few times before she looked over at the clock on the desk and saw that it was 7:40. She threw the letter back on the desk and ran as fast as she could with her soreness to the shower down the hallway.

She took a scorching hot shower hoping that it would sooth her aching muscles and then spent a long while trying to figure out what she should wear and how she should wear her hair; she didn't have enough time to freak out about her actions but if she would have took a second to think about it she would screamed in her head about being a stupid girl worrying about what a stupid boy thinks of what she looks like.

As she ran out of the house she grabbed her phone off the counter and swiftly jogged out of the door. When she slowly opened the fence to Troy's backyard was when the reality of it sunk in; she immediately felt her heart sped up and felt a little nauseous but once she paused to think about it she actually enjoyed that nervous feeling because it meant that she really did have feelings for Troy. She took a deep breath before she moved her feet towards the ladder with a smile plastered on her face.

_To My Dearest Gabriella_, she began to read what she found taped to locked door of the tree house:

_On the other side of this door is the best day of you're life, are you ready for it? Then all you have to do is knock._

Gabriella smiled as his somewhat cheesy note and knocked on the door but not before slipping the note in her pocket and trying to calm her nerves with a few more deep breaths. She started to hear the sounds the door unlocking and her smile grew even bigger when she saw Troy standing there in a nice button-up blue shirt and jeans with his signature weak at the knees smile on his face.

He silently grabbed her hands and led her into the tree house, what Gabriella saw was amazing, it was like it was a whole different place she had walked into, he did a wonderful job. All of his childhood toys were put away in there respective places, the floor was swept and now that it was clean Gabriella noticed the floor was painted white and there was many hand prints in many different colors with writing inside each hand, she made a mental note to ready what's in each one. There was twinkle lights hanging down from the ceiling and in the dead center was a blanket laid out with a picnic basket resting on the blanket, which as she got closer noticed it was Tonka truck blanket.

"It was the only one I knew my mom wouldn't be mad about if I brought it up here," he replied when he saw her giggle.

"It's cute," she flirted.

"Ugh how dare you say trucks are cute, you are such a girl. Trucks are awesome and manly," he teased with his weak at the knees smile.

"Oh I'm sorry, you're right they are the manliest," she joked along with him.

He helped her sit down before he walked over to the other side of the blanket and sat down himself. Gabriella sat quietly fiddling with her fingers in her lap waiting for Troy to say something; thankfully she wasn't waiting too long.

"So I thought that you would like some breakfast before we start our day, excuse me I mean our best day ever," he replied with once again a bright smile on his face as he opened the picnic basket.

"Sounds like a good plan," Gabriella said with a shy smile.

As Troy revealed what they were going to eat he looked up to see the look on Gabriella's face, he knew that it would make her morning.

"Margarita pizza and chocolate covered strawberries," she questioned trying to hold back her tears.

"Well I did say I could be the man you want me to be, so I decided that I would show you, to prove to you that I'm more then just a pretty faced jock."

Not only did she smile on the outside, her heart smiled as well, "Well so far you're doing a good job."  
Troy smiled, "Good, I'm hoping that by tonight I will have convinced you that I can be the man of your dreams."  
Gabriella slyly grabbed a piece of pizza and took a bite before she responded with, "Well we'll see," with a smirk.

Troy smiled at her flirtatious smirk and grabbed his own piece of pizza.

For twenty or so minutes they sat and ate their tremendously nutritious breakfast and Troy sat back and watched Gabriella with admiring eyes as she nervously spoke, "Oh my God, please stop me. Trust me I've never talked this much in my life," Gabriella said as her cheeks flushed red from embarrassment.

"I like it when you talk, I love listening to your stories," he responded slowly rubbing his hand up and sown her bare arm, "Not mentioning the fact that you are extremely cute when you ramble on."

Gabriella never ever thought her face could get any more red but Troy knew exactly how to make her blush.

He moved their empty plates out of the way before he scooted over to Gabriella and took her hand in his; she looked up into his big blue eyes as he played with her fingers, "Ms. Montez has anyone ever told you that you have the most beautiful eyes."

Her response was nothing close to words, well at least spoken words; she leaned in closer to him and connected her lips with his. She was still amazed that when she's with Troy she is not afraid of anything, not afraid to do anything.

The minute they pulled away for much needed oxygen their eyes connected. For the longest time they just sat and stared into each other's eyes as they toyed with each other's fingers. In the short time of knowing each other Troy has realized that the best part of Gabriella is her deep chocolate, heart-warming eyes; he could see her heart in her eyes, he could see all the happy parts of her heart but he could sadly also see all the sad parts as well. It broke his heart to see her heart broken, but it hurt even more now that her very alive brother filled him in on the big family secret, that she wasn't supposed to know about. Though it pained him because she was in pain, it makes him extremely happy to see her happy. Not only was this date for him to excel in her heart but to show her that she can be happy even though all of these things has happened; he wants to only see the happiness in her eyes.

Gabriella didn't whatsoever feel nervous or even blush the whole time she stared at Troy; she felt at peace when she looking into his two oceans.

"Since when does my grandpa have a girlfriend," Gabriella randomly said. Troy couldn't help but laugh," What? It's a serious question." She laughed along with him.

"He met her two years ago, she works at East High, she's the nurse," he answered, he let go of Gabriella with one hand to grab his phone from his pocket, "Oh speaking of which, we are supposed to meet them at school in two minutes."

She just looked at him with a questioning look as he helped her stand up and walk towards the door.

"Oh I forgot to say I loved your extremely corny message you put on the door," Gabriella smiled when Troy opened the door.

"Why thank you, I try."

Troy laced his hand with Gabriella's when they both were back on the ground and led her around to the front of the house while he opened the garage door to reveal his truck.

"I know it's not pretty to look at. It's a work in progress," he said as he opened the door and help her into her seat. Gabriella nodded and smiled as he spoke; she really did like his truck, it represents him very well. She could picture him driving it down the street bobbing his head along with his music.

When he climbed into the driver side of the truck a comfortably situated himself Gabriella reached her hand over to rest on his leg. Not too long after she realized what she was doing she paneled. Instead of pulling hand away immediately she froze, not just he hand but her whole body. Troy felt her body go ridged as he pulled out of the drive way. As he pulled up to the first stop light he reached his right hand down to hers and laced his fingers with hers, once he did that he felt her body relax. It was as if even the slightest touch from him clamed all of her nerves and worries; he just made her feel at peace.

SO HERE IS PART ONE, TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT TO HAPPEN IN PART TWO. THANKS FOR READING

HANNAH


	15. Best Day Part Two

It only took them twenty minutes to meet up with Gabriella's grandfather and his girlfriend, filled out all of the school paperwork and then settled back into Troy's car.

"So where to," Gabriella asked turning her body to face Troy who was facing the road. He quickly glanced over at Gabriella, "It's a surprise," he winked. Gabriella just rolled her eyes at his charming ways, it was a way to hide her blushing cheeks.

*With the Montez boys*

Gavin and Rick had moved their argument outside into the parking lot of the police station, "I know you are just looking out for me but I have to do this. She's your sister too," Rick said, "If this is really where he is then you know too well that this is not a good sign; he's getting closer every second we are standing here."

"Just let the police handle it," Gavin said back.

"If you haven't noticed we are the police, "Rick yelled, "We have to make sure she is safe."

"She is safe, Troy's with her. He will protect her with his life."

Rick covered his face with his hands, "okay he protects her right now but then what? A high school kid is going to be able to fend off a mob boss and his goons all by himself? Oh great Gabriella's got her night in shinning armor with her, I can stop worrying now," he said sarcastically, "this is more serious then you ever will understand."

Gavin took a deep breath before he said, "fine we both will go but we're going to take back up."

Rick shot his big brother a giant smile before climbing into the passenger seat of his brother's car.

*With Troy and Gabriella*

She didn't mean to but on their way to their current destination Gabriella had fallen asleep, she was extremely tired. Troy didn't mind, especially because she was resting her head on his shoulder as he drove. When he reached the river he was torn, he didn't want to wake her up but on the other hand he wanted her to see where they were.

Once he turned off the loud engine Gabriella began to stir awake. She lifted her body up in her seat and rubbed the tiredness out of her eyes.

"Good morning sleeping beauty," he smiled.

Gabriella looked out the front wind shield, "Where are we?"

Troy answered with: the river and laughed when Gabriella's eyes grew wide, "This is a river?"  
"Yeah I know it's huge. This is one of my favorite places to be during the summer time," he answered.

She looked at Troy for a brief second before she opened the passenger side door and slowly climbed out of the car, trying not to show the pain written on her face because of her movements.

Before she closed the door she smiled and said, "Are you coming or not?"  
Troy smiled as he rolled his eyes, "Hold your horses," he teased.

Troy laced his fingers with Gabriella's as he led her down to the water, "So Ms. Montez have you ever been on a boat?"

Gabriella took a second to think, "Um, yeah I think so. But I was really little but I love boats."

"I love them too; would you like to see my boat," he said pointing over at all the boats docked. She nodded her head excitedly; she always found then fascinating, one of the best way to get away from it all. Troy was immensely excited that Gabriella was excited about it; she was starting to show him that she is definitely the right one for him.

It took them no time at all for them to walk down the beach, I guess you could say, and count down to dock station seven where Troy's boat was, "So mister basketball guy how'd you get so lucky to get you own boat," she asked once Troy helped her into the somewhat large sized boat.

"It was my father's, in his will he left it to me. On my seventh birthday I got to drive it all by myself; well I thought I did but a couple of years later I found out that I didn't, I was just spinning the wheel back and forth," he answered showing her around one of his best friends.

Troy had led her to the front of the boat and watched with amusement in his eyes as Gabriella smiled when she saw the picnic basket laid out.

"I thought we could have some lunch and then maybe go out on the water for a little bit; just have some fun," Troy said.

Gabriella turned around to face him with a hit of tear in her eye, "Sounds great."

*With Gavin and Rick*

The Montez brother's pulled up to the docks as fast as they could; their back up was about a half an hour away. Gavin decided to park a little bit down the beach hoping not to bring attention to him and his little brother; he thought it to be safe to park next to a white truck.

"Hey Ricky, remember when dad used to have a truck like that," Gavin asked with a smile and he pointed to the vehicle next to them.

Rick looked at it with serious concentration, he couldn't pin point where he had seen it before; but then it hit him, "Gavin that's Troy's truck; I thought you said that he was with Gabriella today."

Gavin nodded his head, "yeah she is," Gavin looked down at the docks and his heart stopped, "Rick look over there."

The younger Montez looked over in the direction of his brother's finger and his heart stopped as well when he say the man that made their life a living hell for the past nine years.

OKAY SO THIS ONE WASN'T THAT LONG BUT I PROMISE THE NEXT ONE WILL BE. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO HAPPEN AT THE DOCKS? WHAT DID YOU THINK?

HANNAH


	16. Best Day Part Three

"Damn it," Rick yelled as he slapped his brother's car door. Gavin knew that his brother was thoroughly upset so he paid no mind to Rick's abuse to his car.

"Don't worry; they are probably on the other side of the lake. Troy and Gabriella are safe," Gavin said trying to reassure his little brother.

Rick just shook his head and rolled his eyes in disbelief, "Don't be so naïve. If we know that they are here then certainly John and his goons know they are here."

*With Troy and Gabriella*

Gabriella took a small bite of her peanut butter and Kelly sandwich as she looked out at the other people enjoying the water as well. Troy and Gabriella were quiet, but it wasn't an awkward silence; it was almost just peaceful.

Troy, instead of watching the water was watching Gabriella. He felt his heart skip a few beats when her hair began blow in the wind. He reached into his bag and grabbed his camera; he just hat to snap a picture. Gabriella's head whipped around when she heard the camera go off, "Sorry, it was a Kodak moment," he said.

Gabriella grew a big smile as she said, "you're so cheesy."

"Why thank you," he boasted with a smile.

She took one more bite of her sandwich before she scooted closer to Troy, "Here let me see," she said grabbing the camera from him. Troy smiled as he wrapped his arm around Gabriella and pulled her even closer to his chest. He saw her take an intake of breath when she moved; his heart broke when he realized she was still in pain. He moved his hand to rest low on her stomach, hoping the heat of his hand would make her feel better.

She snuggled in closer and smiled when she felt Troy's hand trying to comfort her. She flipped through his pictures and smiled when she came across a beautiful picture of a small child rubbing her hands in the mud, "that's a picture I took a long time ago. I was at the park and there was this little girl that was going to town in the mud, I just had to take this picture," Troy said. Gabriella looked at the picture closely; that little girl looked so familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on it. What she didn't know was that the little girl in the picture was actually her niece Elizabeth, Rick's second daughter; however Troy didn't know that's who she was either.

Gabriella turned to the next picture and smiled widely when she saw a picture of her grandfather and his girlfriend, "they were on a date and I saw them. I don't think they even know that I took a picture of them."

The next picture had to be the cutest, there was two little girls smiling at each other and holding up new dresses, they looked so happy (Picture in profile). Gabriella recognized the blonde girl to be Kaylee but she didn't know who the other girl was. Gabriella didn't think much of Troy's reaction when she turned to that picture but when she noticed that he quickly reached up to his face to rub his eye she turned to look at him and asked him with a sincere concerned look, "Are you okay?"

He once again quickly ran his fingers over his eye, this time Gabriella saw that he did that because he was starting to cry, "Yeah I'm fine, just some dirt in my eye."

Gabriella put a hand softly on his face, "It's okay Troy just tell me. What's wrong?"

Troy shook his head; he didn't want to tell her he felt too embarrassed. Gabriella had an idea about what he was upset about, something about that particular picture.

"This picture is beautiful," Gabriella said still resting her hand on his face, "Who's the little girl with Kaylee?"

Troy took a deep breath before he answered with, "Keylynn, her name is Keylynn Michelle Bolton. A beautiful name for a beautiful little girl," he answered in a whisper. Gabriella waited a few seconds before he answered the question she wanted to ask but didn't want to be rude, "She was my little sister, and Kaylee's fraternal twin," he took another deep breath as he looked away from Gabriella's concerned face, "I took that picture the day before she was diagnosed with Leukemia, the girls were almost four. They were both so excited, it was time to go back to school, well for me but it was also time for the girls to go to school for the first time and they had gotten school clothes, everything was perfect."

"Oh Troy I'm so sorry," Gabriella said.

Troy looked back into Gabriella's eyes and said, "I'm such a horrible person. I lied to you that day at the cemetery, I only said that I was visiting my parents but I was also visiting Keylynn that day too. I guess I just didn't want everyone to know that I had a baby sister that had died; I didn't want people to feel extremely sorry for me. But then you told me about your family and then I felt bad that I didn't tell you about her, I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

Gabriella couldn't help but let a couple tears slide from her eyes as well, "Troy you aren't a horrible person. I know exactly how you feel. When me, my mom and my sister had moved to a new town I only told people that my father had died I didn't want people to feel sorry for me and make me feel sorry for myself if I told them that all my brothers were dead too. I'm not mad that you didn't tell me about Keylynn, but I am happy that you did tell me."

Troy smiled, "You know maybe you can introduce her to me sometime. I would love to meet her," Gabriella said.

Troy nodded his head, "Yeah I could but I think Kaylee would like to introduce you to her sister; she's been asking if she could for the past couple of days."

"Well you can tell her that I would love to meet her sister and that I would love her to meet my sister and my brothers," Gabriella responded.

"Done."

Troy gave Gabriella a quick peck on her lips before they both turned back to look at Troy's pictures.

"Is there anything you can't do," Gabriella teased, "you play basketball; you write and take amazing pictures. How come you are so amazing?"

Troy smiled widely, "Well I can't do everything."

Gabriella just rolled her eyes, "What about you, what do you like to do," Troy asked.

She shrugged her shoulders, "Well when I was younger I used to love to draw but I really don't do it that often anymore."

Troy looked into Gabriella's eyes and he spoke, "Why not, if you like it then you should do it."

Gabriella once again shrugged, "Um because I started to realize that I needed to focus on my school work, that I needed to be a little more practical," she answered.

Troy's eyes grew sad, "I'm sorry."

She looked at him questioningly, "Why?"

"Because that's a little heartbreaking that you never really got to live a dream, that your teen years were tainted," he politely answered, "Maybe you should pick up a pencil and draw sometime."

"Maybe I will."

*With Gavin and Rick*

Rick was pacing back and forth, "Oh my God, I can't believe I'm pacing. I can't believe I'm so nervous. What the hell is wrong with me?"

Rick had yelled just a little too loud, and it had caught the attention of a few people on the docks, a few too many but neither Montez brother knew that they had heard.

Rick had leaned his back up against his brother's car facing away from the docks, Gavin followed suit.

"Don't worry everything is going to be fine. When back up arrives we'll catch them off guard and finally get them locked up," Gavin said.

BANG! BANG!

*With Troy and Gabriella*

The two love birds were caught in a long deep kiss when BANG! BANG!

"What was that?"

SO WHAT DID YOU THINK? TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT TO HAPPEN. PLEASE REVIEW

HANNAH


	17. Family Reunion

**Midnight-**

He watched as her eyes started to close, she had a hard day after all. He could still see the redness and puffiness around her eyes; in the past couple hours she had done a lot of crying.

"How's she doing," Troy heard from the doorway. He turned around to see Gabriella's father leaning up against the door frame with his arms crossed at his chest, "I think she'll be okay eventually sir," he politely answered.

The elder man gave Troy a slight nod then preceded to walk away, "Wait aren't you going to yell at me?"

Troy held his breath as he stopped, turned around and said, "Nope, I would have don't the same thing."

"Then why didn't you," Troy said without thinking, he felt his heart speed up once the words slipped from his lips.

"Once you have a daughter ask yourself that question and you'll get your answer," he strongly answered before he turned around and walked away.

**Six-Thirty pm****-**

Pacing, that's all they seemed to be able to do. They all are trying to focus their thoughts and nerves on something else. The children sat playing with their toys not knowing what was happening.

Gabriella sat on the uncomfortable chair with everyone else just staring at them all in almost amazement, most of those people she's never seen before but she still felt this love for them. It took her only a few minutes to decide that needed to be comforted by someone, that's when she stood up and walked over to Greg and crawled into his lap. He looked at her funny for a second but once he realized what she was doing he smiled and pulled her into his body even closer. Gabriella smiled as she breath in her brother's scent; she couldn't believe that he still smelled the same.

"I missed you," she whispered into the crook of his neck.

Greg smiled and placed a soft kiss to the top of his baby sister's head, "I missed you too."

**Nine-forty five pm- **

Troy grabbed a hold of Gabriella's hand and wouldn't let go. Gabriella pressed her face to the glass and closed her eyes, "I missed everything," she whispered, "I have beautiful nieces and nephews that I didn't get to see being born like my brothers promised, family pictures I'm not in them, everything, I missed everything," she couldn't help but let a few tears slide from her eyes. This was supposed to be a happy moment; she had just gotten her family back, that should be a celebration in of itself.

"Gabs it's your turn now," the two teens heard Rachel say. Gabriella lifted her head off of the glass and nodded her head, "Do you want me to go with you," Troy asked.

"No I need to do this alone," she said slipping her hand from his and then she walked into the room behind the glass that she was just resting her head on. She took a deep breath, hoping it would stop the tears but they just kept flowing.

**Noon- **

BANG! BANG!

"What was that," Gabriella asked.

Troy shrugged his shoulders and then began to slowly creep towards the front of the boat; Gabriella followed suit. It also seemed to be the same thing everyone else was doing.

RING! RING!

The sound of many cop cars rang through the whole docks. Out of curiosity Troy took a step onto the dock and grabbed Gabriella's hand to help her get out of the boat as well.

"Everyone stay back," They heard being yelled from about ten feet away.

Troy and Gabriella finally reached the mob of people and immediately Troy's mouth dropped at the scene before him.

One his reasoning started to kick back in he tried to stand in front of Gabriella making sure she couldn't see what or even better who. However the small girl fit through the cracks of people and saw the inevitable. There was Gavin and Rick lying on the ground next to two mystery men. Gavin was awake and clutching onto his right leg which was seeping blood onto his pants. Rick on the other hand was lying on the ground with a large blood stain right at his heart; you couldn't tell if he was alive or dead.

Troy heard Gabriella have an intake of breath when she saw the scene in front of her. He couldn't really figure out if the gasp was because of the sheer amount of blood or because of whose blood it was.

His eyes looked at Gavin's and shot him a sympathetic look, before the paramedics lifted him into an ambulance. He looked back over to Rick waiting to see if one of the paramedics were going to lift him into an ambulance as well.

Both Troy and Gabriella held their breaths. Once the paramedic bent down and raised his fingers to Rick's neck to check his pulse Gabriella took a slight step towards her brother but was stopped when Troy's hand held her back. She looked up at him with tears in her eyes and watched as he shook his head no, "let them do their job, he'll be fine."

Gabriella swiftly turned around and saw her other brother being rushed away to the ambulance and quickly driven away.

All she could do was stand there, she could barely breath how could she move her feet. Her face went completely pale and her knees seemed to go weak. Troy caught her as she fell and just held her in his arms for a moment. He walked her over to the boat and sat her down on one of the seats. He grabbed a water bottle from his backpack and helped her take a few sips of it.

The time seemed to trudge along; it was like life had just frozen in that very moment. Troy couldn't think of anything to say, he really wanted to tell her the truth but he wasn't supposed to. His head and his heart just couldn't get along to save his life.

"What just happened," Gabriella stuttered, those were the only words that she could form. However Troy didn't know how to answer, the words just seemed to be too complicated to muster. How was he to say that her brothers who are supposed to be dead were just rushed away to the hospital because of gun shot wounds.

Gabriella looked into Troy's eyes; she saw a secret lying in his deep blue eyes. Mostly because he didn't seem fazed by the somewhat gruesome scene that they had seen; something has to be wrong. All she really wanted was answers, she really didn't care what the answer was, she just really wanted to hear it.

"My brothers," she started.

Troy's heart seemed to break as he looked into her eyes, he could see the deep sadness in her eyes, "Gabriella," he whispered as he looked away, "I promised that I wasn't going to say anything."

Gabriella felt her heart brake more as he said those words. She really needed to know; she slowly lifted his head to meet her eyes with his, "Please," she whispered, "I need to know what is going on."

He didn't know what to do, he really wanted to tell her, he would have wished to tell her when he found out but he didn't want to break Rick's promise. But as he looked at her he grew weak, something about her sad face made his guard disappear. He took a deep breath before, "Your whole family is alive," slipped from his lips. He tried to finish the whole story but Gabriella stopped him and said, "Take me to the hospital," Troy's eyes snapped back to hers, "I need to see them."

He didn't say anything he just gathered their belongings and then escorted Gabriella to his truck. As they walked Troy saw tears stream from Gabriella's eyes and tried to pull her in to his body to comfort her. But Gabriella pushed him away and folded her arms in anger. She was angry, not only at him but her family as well; it scared her a little but because she was never that angry to anyone ever. At that very moment you could swear that steam was coming out of her ears.

**At Albuquerque Medical – **

It was so unbelievably quiet for a hospital; well that was before the Montez brothers arrived. Rick and Gavin had been at the hospital for only about ten minutes before their whole family came crashing through the doors and yelling a few choice words at the nurses who weren't answering their many questions.

The craziness of the moment seemed to distract from the young woman standing in the doorway with tears seeking from her eyes. Her legs grew heavy and felt as though her shoes were made out of cement. She didn't know what to think or what to do for that matter. As her eyes fell upon her brother's children she smiled, they were so beautiful; little pieced of her eldest brothers. Her eyes connected with Evangeline who immediately smiled and tan to her yelling, "Auntie Gabriella." Once the small child spoke those words it was like a chain reaction, everyone turned their heads to see the youngest Montez child standing there. Evangeline grabbed a hold of Gabriella's hand and pulled her towards her family.

Her eyes locked with her father's and her tears began to pick up in quantity. Luis Montez took a slight step towards his daughter; he leaned in for a hug but he got his teenaged daughter hysterically punching and slapping his chest as she cried. A few seconds of hitting ended and when it did Gabriella hugged her father and held on tightly still continuing the immense amount of tears. 

To Be Continued!

SO WHAT DID YOU GUYS THINK? THERE WILL BE A CONTINUATION OF THIS DAY IN THE NEXT CHAPTER WHICH I PROMISE WILL BE OUT SOON. PLEASE REVIEW. THANKS

HANNAH


	18. Family Reunion Part 2

Nine-Thirty Pm-

Gabriella's gaze was set on the hospital bed in the corner of the room. The body lying in that bed was Rick; he was hooked up to many wires and all you could hear was the beeping sound of his heart monitor. As she wiped away her tears she saw her brother turn his head and gave her a weak smile, "Hey," he whispered.

She took a few steps toward her brother and she said, "Hey."

Silence fell onto the room once again as Gabriella stood motionless a few feet away from her brother's bed. She didn't know what to say, everything was running around in her head and nothing could form together. But she did eventually figure out what to say, even though it wasn't such a nice thing to say, "What the hell were you thinking?"

Rick's eyes grew wide, he was surprised by his little sister's language, "You basically went there wanting to be shot," Gabriella continued.

"Okay, I've already gotten this lecture from my wife, my daughter and mom; I understand that it was a reckless thing to do but I did it for a reason. You would be standing her right now, you wouldn't know that we all are alive, you probably wouldn't be alive. So don't you yell at me for finally finishing up something that I devoted seventeen years for just so my baby sister could have a normal life. Your welcome by the way," Rick raised his voice and the beeps from the monitor grew faster.

Gabriella grew speechless and she began to grow embarrassed. She didn't really mean for those to be the first words she spoke to him; even thought it didn't seem like it she really did love what he did for her even though she didn't really understand the whole thing. Her brother just saved her life and all she could do was yell; she felt so bad.

All she could do was stare at her feet as she tired to keep herself from balling her eyes out. She felt as though she was the most horrible sister in the world. When she looked up into her big brother's eyes she saw his eyes dripping with water and couldn't help but begin to ball herself. She rushed over to him and grabbed a hold of him in a big bear hug. Rick's stitches on his chest began to hurt but he didn't care, he had his little sister in his arms; that was worth all the pain.

"I missed you so much," she said through her tears still holding as tight as she could to her big brother.

"I missed you too," he said caringly stroking his baby sister's hair.

Troy stood in the doorway, ignoring Gabriella's wishes, watching Gabriella and her brother take care of each other. It made his heart warm to see Rick alive and okay; he didn't know how he was going to handle Gabriella if he wasn't. If he didn't survive not only the shot but the surgery as well it would have broken her.

As the two Montez children began to break away Troy stepped out, not really wanting to be caught by Gabriella.

"I should probably let you get some rest, I need to go kidnap your children anyways," Gabriella teased.

Rick smiled brightly, "I think they would like that very much; especially Ellison. Oh and while you're out there tell Ellison that daddy says she better get ready AMS starts in a few weeks. She'll know what that means."

Gabriella gave her brother a silent nod as she smiled then got up and walked out.

Once she closed the door behind her she met eyes with Troy who was leaning against the wall with his arms folded at his chest.

"You're not mad at me right," he said rocking on his feet nervously.

Gabriella walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, "maybe a little," she paused, "but I'll get over it."

Troy nodded his head still with a sad look on his face. Gabriella reached a hand up to rub his cheek softly, "Thank you," she took a breath, "if it wasn't for you I wouldn't have been at the docks and I wouldn't know that my brother's are alive."

Troy's eyes lit up as he smiled, "well then you are welcome."

She smiled as he did before she reached up on her tippy toes, and placed her lips on his. Troy uncrossed his arms and pulled Gabriella closer to his body as they continued to kiss.

A couple of minutes later the quiet hallway filled with the sound of someone clearing their throat. The two teenaged love birds retracted their lips and turned to look at the person who created the sound. Standing there was Ellison and Mr. Montez watching as the two teens untangled themselves from one another.

"Hi daddy," Gabriella smiled and gave him a hug.

"Hi sweetheart," he said in a monotone voice keeping his eyes on Troy.

"Oh Elly before I forget your dad says to get ready because AMS starts in a few weeks, whatever that means," Gabriella said.

Ellison's eyes lit up and started to jump up and down, "No way really I get to go to regular school," she yelled.

Gabriella shrugged her shoulders, "I guess, go ask him," she said pointing to the door leading to Rick's room.

The young girl ran to the door and threw it open before she walking in; they all laughed.

When they turned back around to face each other the hallway grew silent. Gabriella glanced between Troy and her father then she realized what to do to relieve the tensions, "Oh, Dad this is Troy and Troy this is my dad."

Troy reached his hand out and Mr. Montez shook it without hesitation, "I haven't seen you since your first birthday," Mr. Montez nicely said.

Troy smiled, "oh, I'm not so different, well except for the diapers," he joked but his joke didn't get the laughs or smiles he was hoping for.

"Um okay, um Troy I'm going to borrow my daughter for a second. I promise I'll bring her right back," Mr. Montez responded.

"That's okay sir, I have to call my father back anyway. Take all the time you want."

Gabriella shot Troy a smile before walking away with her father.

As they walked down to the waiting room father and daughter linked arms and Gabriella rested her head on his shoulders.

"I'm glad to have you back daddy," Gabriella whispered.

He smiled and patted her head, "Me too sweetheart."

Once they walking into the waiting room Gabriella noticed her newly found family was no longer there sitting on the uncomfortable seats.

"Where'd everyone go," she said panicky turning to look at her father.

Luis saw his daughter's eyes widen, "Sweetheart it's okay they are all okay. They all went over to Grandpa's, after the day we had we all just need to have one of his famous meals," he answered.

Gabriella's heart rate returned to normal as she smiled, "Troy's allowed over of course," he continued.

Once Gabriella heard Troy's name her face turned bright red and she looked down at her feet in embarrassment. Luis motioned his daughter to open seats, "He's really important to you isn't he."

Gabriella looked up at her father's eyes and she nodded yes, "Yes he is," she took a deep breath before she continued, "I know you think that I'm crazy for falling for him because I've only know him for a short time but there is just something about him."

As Luis listened to what his teenaged daughter had to say he was looking at her with such pride eyes. He wasn't so upset to listen to the content of what she was saying because even though he wasn't around for nine years he knew that if Gabriella was doing something you should let her. She's so grown up; his baby girl was all grown up and she doesn't need him anymore, he thought. However he was happy that Troy was the one she need the most, he trusted the word of his father when he said that Troy is a great boy that would never his youngest child.

"It's okay Gabby sweetheart I don't think you're crazy, I actually think the opposite. I can't wait to get to know Troy more," he responded.

Gabriella gave her father a questioning look, "Who are you and what did you do with my father. You used to always say to me, I'll run away all of your boyfriends, none of them will be good enough for you," she mocked.

"You remembered that," he said amazed.

Gabriella felt her eyes begin to water, "Of course I did, I remember everything you said. When I was in middle school I used to let your words fill my head and hey would make me feel better, it was almost like you were there, even in times I would be afraid to talk to you about anyway."

Luis couldn't help but feel tears fall down his soft cheeks, just like her daughter was doing. Instead of speaking he pulled his baby girl in for a big bone crushing hug. Even though he had his baby in his arms again he was still beating himself up about coming up with the crazy idea to pretend to die, he was starting to feel like he did the week of his death; guilty.

"It's okay daddy," Gabriella said placing a hand on his cheek lovingly, "you're here now, that's all that matters."

He grabbed her hand and placed a kiss on the top of it, "Just promise me that you won't ever do it again," Gabriella added.

"Of course scouts honor," He smiled.

The father, daughter duo got up and walked back to get Ellison, say goodnight to Rick and invite Troy over to Grandpa Montez's house.

About on hour later all the Montez's and Troy were sitting happily, eating, sharing stories, shedding a few tears; it was perfect.

Troy was standing at the kitchen bar just watching Gabriella interact with her family, gosh she was so happy. He was taking a sip of his purple Kool-Aid when he heard, "So Bill what's up."

He swiftly turned around and came face to face with Rachel; he looked around making sure she was talking to him, "I'm Troy, whose Bill?"

Rachel smiled, "B.I.L, Brother in law."

Troy didn't relieve his questioning look on his face, "Me and Gabriella aren't married."

Rachel's eyes turned sly, "No, but you will be," She took a breath, "I see the way you look at her and the way she looks at you. My grandfather said you guys were a great pair, he said you guys were meant to be together, that Gabriella is finally happy with you and I can see that. Thanks for being there for her when we weren't."

Troy grinned, "No problem."

"You will stick around forever right," Rachel said as her face turned stern serious.

Troy didn't take two seconds to think about what he was actually saying, "Of course," and he meant it.

The elder Montez daughter took a second to read Troy's face, making sure he was telling the truth. When she was sure he was she flashed him a sweet smile, "I'll hold you to that."

"I wouldn't expect anything less," Troy teased giving Rachel and sisterly hug.

When Troy turned back he saw Gabriella leaned over Gavin's green cast with a back sharpie and he could see a small part of her tongue sticking out, showing her level of concentration. He couldn't help but chuckle, their were times when she had such a sweet and innocent look on her face.

*Eleven Forty Five*

Troy was sitting up against Gabriella's headboard and Gabriella was lying on her bed with her head in Troy's lap facing him.

"So my sister says you whoo'ed her," Gabriella smiled.

Troy had a slight laugh and rubbed her hair out of her face, "Of course, I'm amazing," he teased.

She slapped his chest, "I'm glad my family likes you," She whispered.

"What would you have done if they didn't?"

She shrugged her shoulders, "Ignore them I guess, or tell them they need to get to know you more."

Troy nodded silently, "Well I'm glad they like me too."

The room grew silent, but it wasn't awkward, Troy lightly stroked Gabriella's hair. As Troy looked down at her he could see a major difference in her face, she no longer looked do sad. But now that Gabriella had her family back, he was staring to feel jealous, he wants his family back.

"I'm sorry," Gabriella said noticing the sad look on his face, "Can you take me to go see Keylynn tomorrow."

Troy's eyes began to water, "I would love that, very much."

Gabriella began to cry as well, she raised her hand and rubbed his cheek lightly. Troy leaned down and gave Gabriella a quick kiss. She snuggled her body closer to him.

He watched as her eyes started to close, she had a hard day after all. He could still see the redness and puffiness around her eyes; in the past couple hours she had done a lot of crying.

"How's she doing," Troy heard from the doorway. He turned around to see Gabriella's father leaning up against the door frame with his arms crossed at his chest, "I think she'll be okay eventually sir," he politely answered.

The elder man gave Troy a slight nod then preceded to walk away, "Wait aren't you going to yell at me?"

Troy held his breath as he stopped, turned around and said, "Nope, I would have done the same thing."

"Then why didn't you," Troy said without thinking, he felt his heart speed up once the words slipped from his lips.

"Once you have a daughter ask yourself that question and you'll get your answer," he strongly answered before he turned around and walked away.

SO WHAT DID YOU THINK?


	19. Keylynn's Love

Troy walked into his house and saw his mother asleep in her chair. He knew that she had been waiting for him to get home but fell asleep; considering it was about three in the morning. Troy grabbed a blanket from the coat closet and laid it atop of his mother, "I don't hate Gabriella," he heard her say before her eyes slowly opened, "I actually love her very much. I was there when she was born. I told Maria and Luis that if anything happened to them I would be more than willing to take care of her but then your parents died and you needed a home more then Gabriella did. I love you so much Troy and I didn't want to lie to you about your parents but we need you and Gabriella to be left out of the problem."

Troy looked as though he had just been punched in the face. I don't know why he was so surprised; he had to know that there was more to this complicated story.

She placed a loving hand on his cheek, "When Luis came to me and said that you and Gabriella would be together one day I smiled," she paused as she dropped her hand from his face, "Before today the plan was that you and Gabriella would get married so that her name would change. And with her name changed it would make it harder for them to find her."

Troy's eyes widened, he couldn't believe that his mother had been planning who he was going to marry; although he did like the idea of marrying Gabriella.

"Now giving the circumstances we, your dad and I and Gabriella's parents decided that you guys don't really have to listen to us, I guess. Well I mean we aren't going to make you guys stay together or even get married if you don't want to but if you want to we support you both."

Troy just stood there in shock; he couldn't seem to form any coherent sentences. He stared blindly as he saw his mother get up from her chair and walk up to her room. It took him about five minutes to grasp what he just heard,

Only a short time later Troy found himself sitting in his tree house with a paint brush in his hands. He placed his hand covered in black paint on an open space on the floor. He wiped the excess paint off his hand then dabbed his paint brush in white paint and began to write in the black hand print. "Today I decided who I am going to marry," it read.

Gabriella woke up around three A.M and panicked when she was the only one in her bed; it only took her a few seconds before she realized that Troy was more than likely at home. She felt extremely better now that everything seemed to be back to normal.

She stood up out of her bed and walked over to the balcony. The air was warm as she sat on the lawn chair. As she sat there she starred at the moon; that night it seemed different, it looked bright, less gloomy. She couldn't help but smile, it was so beautiful and breathtaking.

"Hey missy shouldn't you be in bed," Gabriella jumped when she heard Greg's voice.

"Yeah I guess so. I just wanted to sit out here for a little while," she answered motioning her brother to sit on the chair opposite of her. Greg sat down and crossed his arms as he watched his sister star at the moon again. In his mind he flashed back to when Gabriella was four and she would sit in the backyard and watch the moon for hours; she said that nothing was prettier than the moon.

"So missy what's on your mind," he said breaking the silence and his little sister's attention.

"I don't know, the future I guess," she said shrugging her shoulders and stared down in her lap.

"What about the future? You know that in our family you don't think too far ahead because it doesn't always happen that way."

Gabriella rolled her eyes, "Thanks for reminding me Mr. Positive."

Greg smiled, "I was thinking about what life is going to be like now. We'll be a normal family right?"  
Greg didn't know what to say to his baby sister; he didn't even know the answer himself, "I don't know, what's your definition of normal?"

"A family that doesn't pretend to die and leave one of your siblings out of the loop. That doesn't get in gun fights at the docks; anything but that is normal." She answered.

Greg sighed and rubbed his forehead; this mistake his family made was going to haunt them for the rest of their lives. Greg was nine years old when his baby sister was born and he went along with his family's decision, but as he grew up he wished he didn't; it's a decision he'll have to live with, "You know that we did what we did to protect you. We didn't want you to live a life in hiding and have to lie all the time. I know you think you would rather have been in on the lie but you'd hate it. Talk to Rick's daughters, they can tell you life is so much better when they are free to say who they really are," Greg took a quick pause before he said, "In all honesty we all are jealous of you; we didn't really get a choice."

Gabriella didn't know what to say; she just fiddled with her fingers in her lap. She knew her brother was right and that she was being crazy thinking they were mean and inconsiderate.

Greg stood up from his seat and said, "I gotta go, my wife is at home by herself with the baby and I have work in a couple hours," Gabriella nodded her head and stood up to give him a big bear hug.

"I'll be here for dinner."  
Then he left.

Once she heard the click of the door she turned to look over to Troy's tree house and smiled when she saw the light on; man, he loved that place, she thought.

Before she went back to bed she decided to go soak in the bath and relax from the craziness of the day. She grabbed herself a fresh pair of PJ's and went off to fill the tub with the hottest water she could. The second she slipped into the water she felt that ache deep down in her stomach; it reminded her that she was no longer innocent. But she didn't care, it reminded her of Troy and that was a good thing.

*Nine AM*

Gabriella stood in the kitchen of the Bolton household making Troy a plate full of eggs and bacon. As Lucille made her family breakfast she told Gabriella exactly the same thing she had to Troy a couple of hours before. Little Kaylee slowly walked down the stairs as she rubbed the tiredness from her eyes. Once she sat down and began to eat Gabriella turned to her and said, "Hey Kaylee, when you're done eating would you want to go somewhere with me?"

"Where," she said with a mouthful of eggs.

"Well, I was wondering if you could introduce me to your sister."

Kaylee's eyes lit up and she quickly glanced at her mother for permission. Lucille said yes and said she would help the seven year old get ready while Gabriella went to give Troy his breakfast and make sure he gets ready.

Gabriella maneuvered herself around the upstairs of the Bolton household. She finally found Troy's room; she couldn't help but smile when she saw him peacefully sleeping, his mouth slightly agape. She climbed to strattle his stomach and ran the plate of hot food in front of his nose. It only took him a few seconds before he eyes snapped open. It's like every teenaged boy's fantasy to wake up to their girlfriend sitting inched away from their little friend, so to speak, holding a plate full of food. Troy rubbed his eyes making sure he wasn't dreaming, "Well hello," he said with a smirk.

"Hi," she chimed in such a cute way, "Your mom made breakfast."

He thanked her and began eating; still with Gabriella on top of him. She placed her hands on her knees and relaxed on top of him before she said, "Hurry up and get ready, remember we're going to see Keylynn today."

Troy nodded his head and began to fill his face faster; he finished his breakfast in record time.

After he was done he put the plate on his nightstand and then turned back to Gabriella, resting his hands on her legs, "So how are you today? Better?"

She nodded, "Yeah, I guess I'll just have to get used to seeing my parents when I wake up. I like seeing them in the kitchen in the morning with Grandpa, it makes me feel eight again," she answered with a bright smile. Troy's heart warmed when he saw her smile, she looked so happy and excited, "You know you don't have to go see Keylynn today, I know Kaylee will understand if you want to spend the day with your family," He said. She laced her fingers with his and said, "I have the rest of my life to spend time catching up with my family but this time with Kaylee is greatly needed. I know what it feels like to loose family at her age and I want her to know I'm here for her," she answered.

Troy smiled, "and you don't want to answer two-hundred questions," he teased.

Gabriella shrugged, "Yeah that too."

She soon hopped off of Troy and left him alone to get ready.

An hour later Gabriella stood holding the hand of Troy's little sister in front of Keylynn Michelle Bolton's headstone. Troy stood behind his girlfriend and wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his head on her shoulder. Kaylee looked up at her brother and Gabriella smiled before she said, "Gabi this is my sissy, she's my best friend, even though she's in heaven now."

The seven year old motioned them all to sit down.

"When Key-Key was in the hospital we used to play with all the kids they were our best friends, they even came to watch her go in there," she said pointing at the ground a couple inches in front of her. Gabriella sucked in a breath in hopes of holding back tears. This little girl was sitting in front of her sister and talking about her; it was so sad.

"We had lost of fun together. I'm sad she's not here no more but I'll see her later I know it," Kaylee continued.

Gabriella wiped away a fallen tear and leaned in to pull Kaylee in for a hug. She pulled her onto her lap and cradled her head in her shoulder, "I'm so sorry Kaylee," Gabriella whispered in her ear.

"It's okay, Keylynn said that she's okay now and that we'll be with her again," she responded picking her head up and looking in Gabriella's eyes, "Don't be sad."

Gabriella turned around to lock eyes with Troy and she couldn't help but let a few more tears leak from her eyes when she saw him wipe away his own tears. Now that she knew her family wasn't dead she felt so bad for Troy and Kaylee, they really did lose someone they really loved. They will never have a moment, eight years later after this moment when they find out it was all a lie; their family will forever be missing a member. Gabriella reached a free hand over to Troy and grabbed his hoping it would make him feel better.

The three of them sat there comforting each other for a somewhat long amount of time. About a half and hour later Kaylee asked Troy and Gabriella if she could be alone with Keylynn. The two respected the small girl and got up and decided to walk around the perimeter of the grave yard; making sure they still had Kaylee in their sight.

"Are you okay," Gabriella asked lacing her fingers with his and looked up in his crystal blue eyes.

He nodded his head and placed a kiss on the top of Gabriella's hand, "Yeah I'm fine. It will always be hard to talk about Keylynn."

Gabriella stopped them and leaned her head against Troy's chest; Troy wrapped his arms around Gabriella and pulled her as close to him as he could without crushing her.

"I love you," Troy whispered on the top of Gabriella's head.

She looked up at him with tear stained eyes, "I love you too," she said before connecting her lips with his.

Their kiss was interrupted, "Troy, Gabriella," they heard Rachel yell. They retracted their lips and turned to see Gabriella's sister running towards them; something was not right.

"Rachel what's wrong," Gabriella asked with a confused look on her face.

Rachel took a couple of deep breaths once she finally got over to Troy and Gabriella,, "We need to leave. Something's wrong."

WHAT DID YOU THINK? PLEASE REVIEW. TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT TO HAPPEN.

HANNAH


	20. Just When You Thought Everything Was Ok

The mood in the Montez house was definitely not what one would anticipate it would be. After all their family was now all together, why wouldn't everyone be happy and ready to celebrate? Troy and Gabriella walked into her grandfather's house, Troy holding his fast asleep baby sister in his arms. They had a smile on their faces, thinking that nothing bad was going to happen. When you see the look of fear written all over your father's face you know something is extremely wrong, and you know that this is going to be hard to pick yourself up from. It's even worse when you hear him say, "We all need to leave."

Both Troy and Gabriella felt their hearts fall to their knees when those words fell from Luis Montez's lips. They all thought that they brought down their enemy but that wasn't entirely true. Gavin showed his baby sister and her boyfriend the rather disturbing message that was dropped off at the police station that morning from one or more of the followers. Troy and Gabriella couldn't believe their eyes, notes like those were only things they thought were in movies or television shows; it seemed so much more intimidating in real life.

"I have already contacted the Federal Marshalls and they have arranged new places for us all to go and new identities. Even you and your family Troy," Gavin explained to the two teenagers. They didn't know what to say or even what to think, they only thing they could think of was about how angry they were. They couldn't believe how their whole life was changing in an instant, Gabriella realized in that moment that this moving away from everything thing was actually extremely hard for her family and she didn't think of giving them any appreciation for doing such a hard thing.

"My family," Troy tired to choke out as he re-situated Kaylee in his arms. Luis nodded his head as he said, "They know, they're packing right now. We leave tomorrow night."

Troy looked down at his feet; he was starting to feel sick. Up until a few weeks ago he was a normal teenaged boy about to start his senior year, getting ready to be an adult and go to college. Gabriella and the consequences of being with Gabriella was something he didn't plan on. At that moment he wanted to wake up from this dream, at first he was okay with this craziness, but now it was affecting his family. For a split second he was wondering if Gabriella was worth it, but then shook away those thoughts rather quickly because in his heart she was definitely worth it. He looked over at her and saw the feat written all over her face, she didn't know what to do or say. In the hope of calming her down he reached his hand out to hr and laid his hand onto her knee, also in the hopes of playing on Luis' good side. Gabriella smiled at the small gesture and sent him an apologetic look; she didn't want him to be sad about this whole ordeal. But she knew that no matter what he was going to be sad, after all he was leaving everything he's ever known.

Troy looked down at Kaylee and couldn't help bit feel that family sting in the corners of his eyes. He didn't know how he was going to have to explain all of what was going on to his little sister' he worried she was going to be negatively affected by more trauma. He placed a kiss atop of Kaylee's head before he excused himself and went to help his parents finish packing up the house.

Gabriella, once Troy left, stared down at her fingers playing with each other in her lap. She tried to plan out her plan of attack, was she going to sit in her room and cry her eyes out, was she going to pretend it wasn't happening, or was she going to focus her time on comforting Troy, making sure he was okay. It definitely was going to be a rough two days.

Without saying anything to her family she got up off the couch and swiftly went up to her room. If this was to actually happen then she was going to have to pack the few things she actually unpacked in the first place. Once she finished she snuggled up to her pillow and stuffed brown bear on her bed and just stared up at the ceiling. She had this itch, she wanted to go over to Troy and talk but she was afraid he didn't want to see her, that he was upset she brought him into such chaos.

"Knock, Knock," she heard her mother's voice coming from the doorway. Gabriella rolled over and gave her mom a smile as she watched her walking towards her, "How are you baby?"

She shrugged her shoulders and looked down at her fingers that were threading themselves through her stuffed bear. Maria walked over to her daughter's bed and sat down on the edge, reaching out to rest her hand on her daughter's leg.

"Are you upset about moving again," Maria asked in her soft caring voice hoping to help her baby girl.

Gabriella took a second to think about it, "Um, I don't know. Not really, I'm sad a little about it and the fact some psychos trying to come after us but I'm really worried about Troy and Kaylee, I don't want them to have to be sucked into all of this."

Maria smiled and patted Gabriella's leg, "Now you know how I felt when I found out I was pregnant with you. I didn't want such an innocent child to be affected by something she had no control of," Gabriella sighed and nodded her head, "But look how that all ended up. You don't want seventeen years from now being regretful because you pushed Troy away in the hope of protecting him. He's going to need you Gabriella," She explained.

"But what if he doesn't want to see me or talk to me," she asked with worried eyes.

Maria rolled her eyes at her daughter's teenaged naive mind, "I know that boy, he could never stop talking to you, or even miss a day without seeing you."

Gabriella nodded her head and realized her mother was right. She didn't want to make Troy upset but she didn't want to live without him as well. Maria got up and kissed her youngest daughter's forehead before walking back into the living room.

A few minutes later Gabriella realized she needed sisterly advice so she swiftly got out of bed and left the house and went over to Rick's house where she was watching his kids while his wife was out buying some more boxes and visiting her husband in the hospital. Gabriella walked past her eldest two nieces who were seated in from of the television and was directed to the kitchen when Elly, with her eyes still glues to the TV, pointed her in that direction. Rachel was seated at the kitchen table watching Emily and Evangeline finger painting and feeding Everett his bottle with a big smile on her face. Gabriella stood in the doorway watching her big sister lovingly interacting with their nieces and nephew.

"Hey don't get any ideas you're only nineteen," Rachel heard her sister's voice coming from behind her. She turned around and let out a little chuckle, "Yeah I know but it is always good to think about the future."

Rachel watched her sister walk over to her and take a seat in the chair next to her. She shifted Everett to her shoulder and began burping him while Gabriella began with, "Okay I need older more mature sisterly advice," then she took a pause before she continued with, "about boys."

Rachel's eyes lit up when she heard her sister's words. Rachel wasn't a boy crazy teen but she was definitely more experienced in boys then Gabriella.

"Aww little sister I thought this day would never come," she dramatically chimed. Gabriella rolled her eyes before she shot her a serious look on her face.

"Ok, Ok what about them would you like to know," Rachel asked.

Gabriella looked down at her twiddling thumbs that were in her lap, "Well I don't know if Troy is mad at me because of this whole moving thing but I don't' know what to say to him."

"He's not mad at you trust me, he could never be mad at you."

Gabriella frustratingly responded with, "That's what mom said," She sighed then continued, "Okay then what do I do to make him feel less crappy about his whole thing?"

Rachel shot her sister a smile, "Gabs just go talk to him, ask him how he feels about it all and let him talk, and just be there to comfort him."

Gabriella was surprised by her sister's answer, she thought it was going to be something totally different, "Wow Ray, how grown up of you. I thought you were gonna say, dress up in something alluring and do him."

Rachel began choking on herself surprised by what her sister said. They both quickly looked over at Emily and Evangeline to make sure they didn't pick up on the connotation of that saying, "Wow Gabs I never would have ever thought I would ever hear those words cone out of your mouth."

Gabriella immediately got up and said, "I should go talk to Troy now," and then she swiftly left her brother's house.

She took a deep breath before she opened the gate to Troy's backyard; she was hoping he was going to be back there. And it so happened that he was. He was sitting with his feet dangling off of the edge of the tree house. She stood in front of him and looked up at him before she said, "Hey," in a whisper-like tone. And Troy said the same.

"Are you okay," she asked.

He shrugged his shoulders and then looked down at his lap. Gabriella turned her attention to the stairs and began climbing up to be with Troy. She navigated her way to him and sat down next to him and just sat there in silence.

"Why do you look so calm, I'm freaking out," Troy said locking eyes with Gabriella a minute later. She gave him a slight smile, "I have had a lot of practice hiding my true feelings. I am freaking out on the inside and I'm really scared but I don't want everyone else to know that," she admitted. Troy grabbed her hand and clasped it tightly in his own two, "Please don't hide from me."

She nodded and then placed her head on his shoulder, "What are we going to do," she asked with the sound of tears in her voice.

"I don't know, but we'll figure it out," he whispered then stood up and walked into the inside of the tree house and Gabriella followed suit.

"I'm sorry," she said as she watched him lean up against the far wall and cross his arms across his chest, "I wish you never would've gotten thrown into this whole mess."

He shot her a confused look, "Why are you sorry? You did nothing wrong. This is not your fault it's no one's fault but those crazy psychos," then wrapped his arms around her waist when she walked over to him.

"Everyone keeps telling me that but I still feel like it's my fault," she said looking up at his bright eyes trying to keep herself from tearing up.

Troy moved his hands up to cup her face and ran his thumb up and down her cheek, "Gabby you didn't do anything, you hear me. You didn't kill that cop seventeen years ago, you didn't; even know about this until a couple of days ago. You didn't do anything."

"But they were coming for me," she argued.

Troy rolled his eyes, "They thought you'd be an easy target but they underestimated the love brothers have for their baby sister. No way in hell is this your fault okay," Troy said.

Gabriella nodded her head and quietly squeaked okay before leaning in and locking lips with Troy.

He slowly trailed his hands down Gabriella's arms until he placed his hands on her hips, and pulled her in closer to his body. Gabriella retraced her lips for one second to say, "Thanks, I really needed that."

Troy began to laugh then he connected their lips together again this time non-stop. They both relaxed in each others arms as they continued to explore the insides of each others mouths. They didn't want to stop they loved each other too much.

It didn't take long before Gabriella began to speed things up with a rather loud moan as she guided Troy to sit in his bean bag chair. Troy was definitely taken back by Gabriella when she straddled his lap while he was sitting in his favorite childhood chair. He ignored it and continued to kiss his girl. He loved the feeling of her in his arms she made him feel complete and he never wanted her to leave.

Soon after Gabriella released her lips on his and then re-attached them to Tory's neck and that special spot behind his ear. She couldn't help but smile when she hard a moan be released from his mouth. Never in her life had she been so forward with a boy and when she went up there that day that wasn't what she planned on happening but in the hear of the moment she gained new confidence; Troy made he feel less shy and less self-conscious. And he definitely made her more comfortable with doing activities such as that.

She reached down to her own t-shirt and began to pull it up and over her head. Troy's eyes grew three times as big as normal. He had seen her without a shirt on before and both times she looked completely beautiful but in that moment his rational thinking took over. He had only met her a couple weeks before and this was already happening again? Troy didn't want to treat her that way; he didn't want to be that guy who took advantage of a girl. Even though he had already done it, he didn't wan tot hurt her again, he wanted to wait a little while. He wanted to take her on a nice date, make her feel special, maybe do it on a bed to make her feel comfortable as possible. He wanted to make it so special and at that moment it wasn't special enough.

He grabbed her hands that were making their way to his shirt and pulled her away. She lifted her head up and looked at him questioningly, "Not here, not now, I wanna make you feel special and I can't do that right here."

Gabriella smiled and nodded and then let Troy help her put her shirt back on.

They both cuddled up together and just looked around the somewhat empty tree house. Troy sighed, "I'm going to miss this tree house."

Gabriella's eyes lit up as she thought of a way to make Troy happy, "We can bring it with us."

Troy looked at her life she was crazy but he listened to her plan to take down the tree house and re-build it at his new house. And that's what they did for the rest of the day.

WHAT DID YOU THINK? TELL ME WHAT YOU WOULD LIKE ME TO WRITE. PLEASE REVIEW.

HANNAH


	21. Sandy Memories

Everything was packed, labeled, loaded and ready to go but the same did not go for people who this move was affecting. Even the elder Montez children were not ready to give up their homes again, even if it meant being safer somewhere else. However the person it was most affecting was Grandpa Montez. He lived in that house for over fifty years and now he was told to pack everything and move away from it, the place he and his wife brought their children to after they were born, the place where he taught his two daughters how to ride their bikes and skip, the place where he interrogated boys who came within five feet of this daughters, the place where he first learned of his elder daughter's pregnancy at seventeen, the place where he last saw his wife which was six years ago. That house will always be his home, he vowed that no matter how many houses he lived in after this particular move that house in Albuquerque would always be his home; his safe place.

Gabriella was making her last rounds in her grandfather's house when she stopped dead in her tracks in his room. Grandpa Montez was standing in the middle of his room looking around at the empty walls with his arms crossed at his chest. His back was to Gabriella but he still felt his granddaughter's presence in the room.

"Gabriella come sit with me," he said turning around and motioning her to his closet. She looked at him with question filled eyes but followed him anyways. Granddaughter and Grandfather sat down inside his closet and Gabriella's eyes began to water when she followed her sight to what her seventy-one year old grandfather was pointing to. It was a somewhat faded crayon drawing on the inside of the closet door. The drawing was of a small girl holding a balloon in her hand, although it was a stick figure Gabriella could tell that this particular girl was happy. Underneath the girl was a sloppy writing in purple crayon that spelled: Gabriella's Happy Place! Grandpa Montez looked over at his granddaughter and saw the tears slipping from her eyes, "Do you remember this?"

Gabriella couldn't form any words without the fear of them coming out shaky so she just nodded her head.

She absolutely remembered that. She was eight years old and she spent the whole week they visited their grandfather lying in that closet. She chose the closet because no one could find her, no one could talk to her, no one could tell her that they were sorry about her father and brother's deaths, no one could make her feel sad; it was her happy place. Right before Gabriella and what was left of her family left for their new house Grandpa Montez sat down in the closet with her and brought her some coloring books and crayons; maybe that would make her feel better. He saw that she was upset about leaving her hiding spot so he began to draw a happy little girl holding a balloon on the door of his closet, that was the first time he saw her smile the whole time that week. Gabriella picked up her most favorite purple crayon and wrote Gabriella's Happy Place underneath her grandfather's drawing.

"I give you permission to come back here anytime you are feeling sad, and if you want I'll come and sit with you, maybe we'll add some more pictures," he said.

Gabriella felt even more tears stream from her eyes as she remembered that moment nine years ago. Grandpa Montez then went into his pocket and pulled out a box of crayons, "Do you feel like adding more drawings?"

She nodded her head and took the box from him, she pulled out a crayon and began drawing a larger figure holding a balloon standing next to the girl, this figure was happy as well. Grandpa grabbed a green color crayon out of the box and wrote: Grandpa's Happy Place, underneath the new figure. Before he put the crayon back in the box Gabriella said with a teary smile, "I give you permission to come back here anytime you are feeling sad, and if you want I'll come and sit with you, maybe we'll add some more pictures."

His eyes began to well up as he nodded, "Sounds like a plan," then pulled his granddaughter in for a big hug.

They broke apart when they heard a knocking sound come from the door. They both stood up and opened the door to see Troy standing on the other side, "Um your mom said it's time to go," he said after he cleared his throat. They both nodded and began to walk out of the closet and the master bedroom. Grandpa Montez picked up his walking speed trying to give the two teenagers a moment alone before they reached the front door of the house.

Gabriella grabbed Troy's hands and laced them with hers before she reached up on her tip toes to place a kiss on lips. They both smiled into and out of the kiss and Troy pulled Gabriella into a hug after they separated their lips.

"So why were you and your grandpa in a closet," he asked as they began to walk for the door again.

"It's complicated," she responded, "Are you nervous about moving?"

"It's complicated," he said with a smirk on his face before Gabriella slapped his chest and rolled her eyes.

When they finally reached the front door Gabriella took a moment to look around her grandfather's house, she promised herself that she was going to come back when all of the craziness died down and she promised to never let any one of her family members sell that house, she didn't care how long it would sit empty she always wanted to be able to call that place home. She took a deep breath and then followed Troy out of the house.

Twelve and a half hours later the Bolton and the Montez clans finally arrived at their new homes in Sandy, Utah. Gabriella watched as Troy followed behind his father in his truck as they drove to their house, which is around the corner from the Montez's. Each family went into their house and found on their kitchen counters new drivers licenses, birth certificates, new school transcripts and résumés, everything you would need for a new identity.

Nothing after that seemed to slow down in the two teenager's eyes. It was as if they never had any time to sit down and breath. They had to put away all of their belongings, prepare themselves for answering to their new names, get ready for school to begin in three weeks, and really take in the fact that they were now in witness protection and could no longer be the people they know. In her mind, Gabriella tried to envision what it would be like giving up her whole identity and swapping it with a new one but what it actually was felt completely different.

It had been the end of the second week of living in Sandy when Gabriella was lying in her room staring up at the ceiling wondering why she was being so depressed about this new part of her life, she had her family all together and her boyfriend was just around the corner why would that make her so sad. In that moment she realized that she hadn't talked to Troy since the day they left Albuquerque, they must have been so busy worrying about settling in. Gabriella reached for her phone and smiled when she saw the picture of Troy and Kaylee she had taken the day before they left. She debated for a moment if she should call or text Troy, after all it was almost midnight. Two seconds later she decided. She pulled on her jacket and slid on her shoes and began to make her way out of the house.

As Gabriella felt her hand touch the door knob to the front door she heard her father clear his throat. She slowly turned around and saw Luis sitting in his chair flipping through channels, holding a cup of coffee, "Where do you think you are going missy?"

She put on her sweet smile and replied with, "I was going to go see Rick I have to talk to him about something. It'll be quick I promise."

Luis gave a questioning look to his youngest child, "Alright, only for a little bit."

Gabriella threw him a smile and turned for the door. Once she started to walk out the door she heard her father say, "Say hi to Troy for me."

Gabriella said hello to some of her neighbors that were putting out their trash cans as she walked around the corner to Troy's house. When she reached the big house she saw the light on in Troy's tree house, which Troy, Luis and Jack put back together the week they arrived. She walked through to the back yard and walked up the ladder to find Troy in his usual spot, sitting in his beanbag chair in the corner with a notebook and pencil in hand. Gabriella leaned up against the entry way and smiled as she said, "Hey stranger."

Troy looked up with a bright smile, got up from his seat and walked over to his girl, pulling her into a quick kiss.

"I've missed you so much," Troy said resting his head against Gabriella's.

She smiled as she inhaled his sent, it was just like she remembered, "Me too."

Gabriella leaned her head onto Troy's shoulder and wrapped her arms around his middle, they were both so comfortable.

"I'm sorry I haven't come over in a while. I guess I was just scared," Gabriella mumbled into Troy's shoulder. Troy grabbed Gabriella's shoulders and pulled her away from his chest, wanting to look into her eyes, "Why were you scared?"

Gabriella pulled herself out of his grasp and plopped herself down in one of the remaining beanbag chairs, then shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know. I thought that you would be really mad at me, so I wanted to stay away so that I wouldn't make you even more mad," she said slowly looking up into Troy's eyes.

He sat down on the floor in front of Gabriella and laced his hands with hers, "Gabriella for the millionth time I wasn't mad at you, I'm still not mat at you. This whole set back, I guess you could call it, is not your fault. This whole thing was going on even before we were born, so how can you say this is your fault."

Gabriella nodded her head, "Yeah your right."

Troy gave Gabriella few quick kisses, then Gabriella broke apart to say, "You know you could've come over to see me too," Gabriella teased.

Troy smiled before he truthfully responded with, "Your dad scares me a little bit."

Gabriella couldn't help but laugh, she knew her father would be happy that his daughter's boyfriend is scared of him.

"I think he wants you to be," she responded with a smile then ran her hand through Troy's hair then played with his ear.

Troy smiled and then closed his eyes in contentment. The whole room grew silent but words weren't needed, everything was so peaceful.

Everything stayed peaceful until Gabriella teased, "You need a haircut."

He slowly opened his eyes as he chuckled at Gabriella's comment, "Okay Mom."

Gabriella rolled her eyes as she smiled; she then scooted over to let Troy sit with her on the large beanbag chair. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and let her head lie on his chest.  
"So what's your new name, I probably should start getting used to it," Gabriella asked.

"I'm Alex Neilson," he teasingly boasted, "What about you?"

"Mackenzie Sanchez," she responded fidgeting with her fingers, "I've never been anyone other than Gabriella, I'm not so sure if I can be anyone other than Gabriella," she finished with shrugging her shoulders.

Troy placed a kiss atop her head before saying, "I'm sorry sweetheart. I'm sorry all of this has to happen to you."

"I'm sorry it has happened to you too. You deserve your life back."

Troy kissed her head again before lacing his fingers with her saying, "I love Gabriella and I think that if Mackenzie doesn't change her then I'll love Mackenzie too," he finished with a smile.

Gabriella felt her eyes begin to well up in happiness, no one ever said anything so beautiful about her before, "The same for Alex," she said turning her head to look up into Troy's blue eyes. Troy smiled as both of the teens eyes' sparkled. He then put his finger underneath Gabriella's chin, pulling her closer to him and attaching her lips to his in a rather long kiss.

Troy didn't need anything other than Gabriella and that moment. IT didn't matter if their whole world was taking an odd ride they had each other there to take that ride with. She was his world and he loved that feeling.

Gabriella pressed her body into Troy's as she deepened the kiss. It seemed as thought they were connected together forever, but they seemed to like that. About five minutes later Gabriella pulled all the way away from him before she said, "We have to stop of your special time idea will be blown out the window."

Troy nodded his head then went over to his "Writer's Corner" and continued on with that he was doing before Gabriella arrived. Gabriella smiled brightly at him before she sat down next to him, grabbed the drawing pad he left for her and began drawing Troy lost in his work.

SO WHAT DID YOU THINK? BIG CHANGES ARE AHEAD FOR TROY AND GABRIELLA. TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT TO HAPPEN. PLEASE REVIEW.

HANNAH


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